You probably have heard either via the Twitter or from Hockey Night in Canada Elliotte Friedman say that the Oilers are in on Finnish goaltender Mikko Koskinen. This new shouldn’t come as a shock to anybody. There are changes afoot in the KHL and a ton of talent is looking to come to the NHL. And if you’ve been listening to Bob Stauffer recently you’d know he asked both Todd McLellan AND Peter Chiarelli during their year-end avails questions as to procuring a goalie out of “non-traditional markets”…
Further to @FriedgeHNIC on Mikko Koskinen.
My understanding is KHL UFA players contracts expire April 30th.
Peter Chiarelli said Goaltending was "close or near the top of things to look at," when I asked him about getting another goalie to ease Cam Talbot's workload- April 11— Bob Stauffer (@Bob_Stauffer) April 22, 2018
Hearing Mikko Koskinen is leaving SKA and is set to sign in the NHL. Others sources mention #Isles as a destination, but it's unlikely
— Igor Eronko (@IgorEronko) April 11, 2018
Buyer Beware
Mikko Koskinen has played the last 5 seasons for Vladimir Putin’s team SKA in the KHL. He’s had the luxury of playing behind the best team money can buy over in Russia but that being said, he still has to play well to stay on said team and he has.
The 6’6″ 200lb Mikko Koskinen was once a blue-chip goaltending prospect in the New York Islanders system after being drafted as a 2o year old in the 2nd round of the 2009 draft 31st overall. Basically a first round pick.
But for whatever reason things didn’t pan out in that organization and his numbers were simply unacceptable, as you can see above, in his three seasons as a goalie in North America.
This from Islanders blog, Lighthouse Hockey:
While in the Islanders organization, he had basically one full season in AHL Bridgeport with an ugly .892 save percentage, though it was on a(nother) weak team. A hip problem clearly interfered with his performance during his entry level contract playing for the Islanders, Sound Tigers, and their then-ECHL affiliate Utah Grizzlies.
A couple of things working in his advantage are his size and I believe his age. Koskinen is 30 now and we know that goaltenders can be fickle when it comes to development but this fella has put up consistently good numbers since moving to Europe.
If the Oilers are looking at signing Mikko Koskinen to be their backup in 2018, are they aiming high enough? What I mean is that last season was lost due to “hoping” the kids would step up. Are the Oilers back to that “hoping” model again? Or are his numbers and the scouting reports out of Russia/Finland telling the Oilers that this guy can play 25-30 games next season?
Is Mikko Koskinen the next Viktor Fasth/Anders Nilsson or is he Chiarelli’s next Tim Thomas?
https://twitter.com/NHLbyMatty/status/987879721902977026
MY THOUGHTS
I’m divided. He doesn’t have a good history in North America but he’s older now and there are plenty of examples of goalies who flourish in the later years. The optimist in me says the Oilers should go for it because he’s a big netminder and he’s put up fantastic numbers in the KHL but then the pessimist says he’s a slow netminder and the KHL isn’t the NHL.
https://twitter.com/AdamsOnHockey/status/987886984931639297
Should the Oilers go this route and it fails, they’ll probably still have Montoya as the no.3 who could come up but if they do sign the Finn and he succeeds, how high is the ceiling here? Are we talking Pekka Rinne high? Kiprusoff?
What is a realistic expectation of a 3o-year old goalie coming to the NHL from the KHL with his size and his stats?
https://twitter.com/NHLbyMatty/status/987880255053447168
Are we overthinking this? For the love of Pete, this is the backup goalie we’re talking about here…
Here are some scouting reports of the big guy:
He takes up a ton of net and he is difficult to beat when he has time to square up to the shooter. Predictably, he struggles a bit with his mobility and regularly ends up scrambling. However, he is extremely flexible for a man his size. That combined with his long limbs helps Koskinen make up for whatever deficiencies exist in his lateral movement. Brent Craswell (link)
Koskinen’s greatest asset is his size, which he uses to seemingly fill the entire net and he covers a lot of space in the butterfly. He is inexperienced in terms of the number of games played and has not had a lot of international experience – excelling in the SM-Liiga where he ordinarily does not see the booming slapshots or accurate snipers more common in North America. Still learning as a goaltender, he must work to improve his quickness and foot speed. Very good at anticipating chances and setting himself to limit scoring opportunities. Quality teammate who has earned the respect of the veteran players in Espoo. (link)
