Edmonton Oilers Rumors: Something has to Shake Out With Edmonton’s Goaltenders, They’ve Got Too Many!

Coming from an Edmonton Oilers point of view, BLH provides you with excerpts from the latest NHL news, rumors, and speculation from all of the internet’s best sites including Spector’s Hockey, The Fourth Period, NHL Trade Talk, The Hockey Writers, Sportsnet, The Athletic, TSN and more!

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The Hockey Writers (Swane)

Oilers Face Questions in Goal at Both NHL Level & in Minors

Mike Smith

(Mike) Smith heads into this, his 16^th NHL season, as Edmonton’s de facto starter between the pipes. He’s getting more benefit of the doubt than last offseason, but even Smith’s biggest backers can’t look past his age. He’ll turn 40 in March, and while Smith takes good care of himself, an undefeated Father Time looms.
Smith never appeared to tire last season, but that pandemic-adjusted schedule featured much less travel, and the span between his first regular-season appearance and the Oilers final playoff game was just 15 weeks, about half the length of the 2021-22 regular season.

Mikko Koskinen

Koskinen logged over 100 minutes more than any other goalie in the NHL to start the season, and while he was a good soldier shouldering such a heavy workload, his play over that stretch only affirmed he was not the caliber of goalie the Oilers need to get where they want to be.
Koskinen is a virtual certainty of clearing waivers with his contract and would carry a cap hit of $3.425 million in the minors. It’s difficult to see Holland being able to trade Koskinen without retaining significant salary

Alex Stalock

As a member of the Wild in 2019-20, Stalock appeared in a career-best and team-high 38 games, posting a 20-11-4 record with a .910 SV% and 2.67 GAA while recording four shutouts. He started all of Minnesota’s games in a 3-1 qualifying round loss to the Vancouver Canucks in the 2020 postseason.
He has one year remaining on his contract, and with a cost-effective cap hit of just $785,000, there is an excellent chance Stalock would not clear waivers should the Oilers try sending him to Bakersfield.
During a recent appearance on TSN 1260, Kevin Woodley of In Goal Magazine become the latest and most authoritative voice to suggest Edmonton heads into the season with three goalies on its roster.

Stuart Skinner

The Edmonton native played the most games (31) and minutes (1,787) in the AHL, won the most games (20), made the most saves (753), and tied for first in shutouts (2).
Among goalies that made at least 20 appearances, Skinner ranked second in GAA (2.38) and third in SV% (.914).
He was also named the CCM/AHL Goaltender of the Month for April when he had a 7-2-0 record while recording a 1.93 GAA and a .926 SV%.
In the modified AHL postseason, Skinner went 4-2 with a 2.68 GAA and .907 SV% to backstop the Condors to the John D. Chick Trophy.

Ilya Konovalov

After accumulating a 53-41-9 record with 14 shutouts while posting a 2.14 GAA and .922 SV% in 111 appearances for Lokomotiv, Konovalov is on his way to North America, where the Oilers will want the 23-year-old to see plenty of action at an ideal level within their system.
The challenge is doing that in concert will the interest of Edmonton’s other prospects, and there are pros and cons both to Konovalov being in Bakersfield or a step down the ladder, in the ECHL, with the Wichita Thunder.

Olivier Rodrigue

He was the No. 2 netminder in Bakersfield, behind Skinner, going 4-5 with a 2.99 GAA and .894 SV%.
The 21-year-old Rodrigue, whom Edmonton drafted at No. 62 in 2018, is going into the final year of his ELC. Ideally, he’ll play enough for the Oilers to make an educated decision whether to qualify the Quebec native next offseason.
But it’s a crowded crease between Bakersfield and Wichita, and the likes of Oilers’ radio analyst Bob Stauffer rank Konovalov above Rodrigue.

BLH’s Thoughts: Somebody’s going to Wichita and I can’t see it being the Russian netminder who’s skipping out on more money in his own country to come to North America.

I like the idea of Konovalov coming in and pushing Stuart Skinner to be a better goalie because he hasn’t really been under a lot of pressure as the Condors goalie. He took over from Shane Starrett a couple of seasons ago and it’s been his net ever since.

Now, what are we to make of Olivier Rodrigue though? I’ve not read or heard a lot of scouts say they see a starting netminder in him and if that’s the case, should Edmonton get what they can out of him and when the time comes, move on? I don’t know, I just wonder if we’ve got another Dylan Wells with him?

Surely, there’s a transaction of some sort coming down the road be that a loan or a trade. Six goalies for four (five if you include Wichita), is too many.

I don’t know if they’ll go with Smith, Koski, and Stalock on the big roster. That would leave them a bit shorthanded with regards to their healthy scratches.

My belief is that one of Koskinen or Stalock will be traded or waived and what happens happens. They’ll deal with it when that bridge needs to be crossed. Having three guys in the minors who they could call up makes that dilemma a little bit easier to handle.

Oil on Whyte (Hladunewich)

Edmonton Oilers: Ken Holland Has Made The Team Better

In 2018-19 Connor McDavid’s top choice for wingers outside of the core players was Milan Lucic, Ty Rattie, and Tobias Rieder. If you compare that to today’s roster, there are much more skilled choices now.
Back in 2018 there was a lot of “hoping” that depth players would click with McDavid, now there is still playing with skill. Overall I think Holland has greatly improved the forward group on this team.
The upgrade on defense is not as noticeable as the upgrade on the forward group, but there still is an upgrade.
The addition of Tyson Barrie adds more offense than any of the original players. Duncan Keith and Cody Ceci are better at defending than Sekera and Benning.
In the 2018-2019 season, the Edmonton Oilers started the season with Cam Talbot as the starting and Mikko Koskinen as the back-up goalies.
- In his first offseason, Ken Holland added Mike Smith to the team to join Koskinen. This has been the goaltending duo since then. Both goalies have played fairly well…
That being said if you look at the lineup of the last game in 2018-2019, then look at the lineup now you can see that Ken Hollands’ hands have molded this team into one that should be able to compete for years to come.

BLH’s Thoughts: Find me somebody who’d rather have the 2018-19 Edmonton Oilers over this one and I’ll show you a liar. Man, that roster was something.

I think the argument is always, could Holland have done better than he has? Did he have to make the Keith trade? Why did he pay so much for Andreas Athanasiou? Should he have paid a little extra to bring in Jacob Markstrom? Things like this.

The proof is in the pudding though and what I mean by that is that the Edmonton Oilers are now an annual playoff contender. The core of the team is good enough to get them through the regular season and into the playoffs every year, or at least that’s the lowest expectation.

Holland targeted 5v5 scoring this year and came away with three forwards who have an excellent chance of helping the club there. Yet, we’re still awaiting the arrival of a true no.1 goalie that can grow with the McDavid cluster. So, it’s not all rainbows and lollipops. There’s still room to grow, but at least we know, as fans, that we’re on the road to the final stretch here.

NHLTradeRumors.me

2 Panthers Most Likely Getting Traded Next Season:

Sergei Bobrovsky: He’s going to remain a Panther until the team ante’s up and retains the maximum salary, which could happen over the next 18 months.
Frank Vatrano: The crafty winger is one of the team’s pending free agents and could be on the outside looking in for a contract extension.

2 Potential Landing Spots for Zdeno Chara

Florida Panthers: The Panthers D-Core isn’t overly physical and could use Chara’s size on their penalty kill. He won’t cost much and is low-risk high-reward, look for Florida to be in the mix.
Philadelphia Flyers: The Flyers are looking to improve their hockey club and have done a great job so far this summer. Adding Chara could help provide some much needed depth on defense in Philly.