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Sportsnet
Six goalies the Edmonton Oilers could target in potential trade
- Marc-Andre Fleury
- He might also have the most power to determine where he winds up and Edmonton, especially now, may not exactly top his list. Fleury, perhaps, is a better fit for a more solid contender that wants to shore up its goaltending a bit…
- Braden Holtby, Anton Khudobin
- Dallas’ defence is great at preventing high-quality looks. They’re seventh at defending scoring chances and ninth limiting high-danger opportunities at 5-on-5. So if Holtby was the goalie to target, he’d be tasked with moving from that situation to Edmonton’s, a bottom-half team by both measures and trending worse.
- Khudobin can run hot and did help lead the Stars to the Cup final in 2020, but he’s got a sub-.900 save percentage in both the AHL and NHL this season. His contract, with a $2.2 million cap hit, also runs through next season as well, which would leave Edmonton with both him and Smith on the books in 2022-23. Not ideal.
- Chris Driedger
- Since. Nov. 27, Driegder has a Kraken-leading .916 save percentage.
- There’d still be a level of risk for the Oilers here given contract term. He’s allowed four goals or more in five of his nine games played this season and hasn’t been healthy. If he’s acquired and not the answer after all, that would create more headaches.
- Joonas Korpisalo
- Korpisalo returned from a spell on the COVID list earlier this month and has a .865 save percentage in the five games he’s played since. In 11 starts this season, Korpisalo has allowed four goals or more six times.
- Not even sure this is an upgrade, but it’d be a change, and one that perhaps wouldn’t cost much to achieve.
- Semyon Varlamov
- This season, an injury delayed his start until mid-November, but he has a solid .917 save rate now and is trending back up at the moment.
- …would Lou Lamoriello be open to this kind of white flag trade right now? They’re probably not ready to give up on the playoffs yet and weaken their lot.
BLH’s Thoughts: Philadelphia’s Martin Jones, formerly of the San Jose Sharks, is being connected to the Oilers the rumor mill as well.
Fleury isn’t an option anymore. He’s seemed to have made that clear recently. As far as Dallas is concerned, I don’t see why they’d move on from Holtby as long as they’re this close to a wildcard spot. Khudobin and Korpisalo are simply not better options than Smith and Koskinen in my opinion.
So that leaves us with Varlamov and Driedger and if I had to put my money on one of those guys getting moved to Edmonton, it’s Edmonton-based player agent Gerry Johansson’s guy down in Seattle. I think the Oilers have a right-shot defenseman who would like to play for the Kraken in Tyson Barrie and, to my knowledge, Edmonton’s been looking at Driedger for a couple years now.
Driedger’s got me feeling all Cam Talbot-y and if Ken Holland can bring that to Edmonton, there might be hope for this group after all.
The Athletic
How will the trade deadline look? Plus, Oilers and Flyers misery and Kent Hughes’ arrival
- …what starts a team back on the winning path is often a goalie that comes in and flat-out steals a win. Or keeps a team in a game they have no business being in, based on a glacially slow start.
- Can anyone really, truly explain the voodoo of NHL goaltending? And if they can explain it, can they place a call to Oilers’ GM Ken Holland, who needs to inject some goaltending magic in his own squad. It won’t cure everything that ails the Oilers. But it’ll be a start.
BLH’s Thoughts: There’s a solution on the way, I’m very sure of that. I’m told that Mr. Katz is very unhappy with Ken Holland’s inability to secure an adequate level of netminding for his club and there’s an unspoken ultimatum on the table.
I don’t think it’s a fair position to be put in for Ken Holland but he’s made his bed too.
The big question will be, will the Oilers be able to shore up their team defense with a different goalie in between the pipes? I mean, what if the new guy lets in the first goal of the game just like Stuart Skinner, Mike Smith, and Mikko Koskinen has?
Now, consider this scenario, Evander Kane signs with the team, RNH and Hyman return, the defense gets healthy, and Mike Smith comes back. Will a full and unafflicted lineup be able to snap this team out of this funk? I think it will.
Spector’s Hockey
- TSN: Pierre LeBrun reports the Edmonton Oilers are looking at all options around the NHL to address their goaltending issues. They’ve kicked tires on Columbus Blue Jackets netminder Joonas Korpisalo, who’s an unrestricted free agent this summer.
- The Oilers also internally discussed the Dallas Stars’ Anton Khudobin but the extra year on this contract at $3.33 million makes him less appealing.
- Darren Dreger noted Chicago Blackhawks netminder Marc-Andre Fleury has also come up in the rumor mill but he’s not a fit in Edmonton for salary-cap reasons.
- SPORTSNET: Jeff Marek and Elliotte Friedman discussed potential landing spots for Arizona Coyotes defenseman Jakob Chychrun. They suggested the Anaheim Ducks, Boston Bruins, Calgary Flames, Columbus Blue Jackets, Los Angeles Kings, New York Islanders, New York Rangers and St. Louis Blues as possibilities.
- THE ATHLETIC: Shayna Goldman and Saad Yousef recently examined potential trade destinations for Dallas Stars pending UFA defenseman John Klingberg. Their three contenders are the Anaheim Ducks, Los Angeles Kings and Carolina Hurricanes, with the Pittsburgh Penguins, Nashville Predators and Toronto Maple Leafs as dark horses.
- THE ATHLETIC: Thomas Drance cited Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli saying he could see a scenario where the Vancouver Canucks trade J.T. Miller soon, perhaps before they officially hire a new general manager.
