Coming from an Edmonton Oilers point of view, BLH provides you with 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!
From NHLRumors.com
David Staples of the Edmonton Journal: Brian Lawton on Bob Stauffer’s CHED radio show said that he wouldn’t bring Mikko Koskinen back next season.
- “No, I wouldn’t. It just wasn’t a tandem that I felt good in.”
Sportsnet Louie DeBrusk said Koskinen is another question mark and doesn’t think that he will be part of their future.
- “Obviously I don’t think he’s part of the future here. I don’t… He did some good work, don’t get me wrong. I’m not throwing Mikko Koskinen under the bus. All I’m saying is if you look at the way this season went, it doesn’t look like he’s part of the future.”
Staples believes the Edmonton Oilers top priority this offseason is to find a left winger for Connor McDavid. They’ll have some big free agent decisions – who to bring back and who to let walk – and who to protect for the expansion draft.
Koskinen has a year left on his deal at $4.5 million and they may not need to replace him. Buying him out may not make sense and they may not be able to find a trade partner, even if they retain salary.
BLH’s Thoughts: I’m of the belief that the Oilers started talks with other teams in the league who might have interest in Koskinen as early as the season before last. So lots of road has been laid in that regard and one club that I can’t get out of my mind as a potential trade partner for Edmonton is Columbus. A wildcard destination could be San Jose…
It’s a funny thing with this player. Over the course of the last two years, Koskinen hasn’t been that bad but he’s had a some bad showings in that time plus he’s a symbol of the previous regime and I reckon that rubs a lot of Oilers fans the wrong way.
I will say this, when he started vs when Mike Smith did, there was a different vibe in Edmonton’s play. I’d say it was way more conservative when Mikko was in net for sure. It almost matched his stoic personality.
Personally, I’d like to see Koskinen moved but not because I don’t like him as a player, but because he takes too much abuse in Edmonton and I feel for the guy.
As far as the Oilers’ goaltending on the whole, not this season but next (2022-23) and after Mike Smith’s deal expires (assuming that he signs a one-year deal this summer), I wouldn’t be shocked if Edmonton took a run at Darcy Kuemper as a free-agent. They’d have probably dealt for him earlier but the Coyotes are asking way too much. Other options if they get to that offseason without signing extensions are Elvis Merzlikins, Jonas Korpisalo, Jack Campbell, and Braden Holtby. So that’s something to keep in mind when contemplating what Ken Holland might be doing with the goalies going forth.
Edmonton can chose internally who they want to back Mike Smith up if they can’t find a deal for a no.2 too, right? They’ve got Alex Stalock, Stuart Skinner, and newly signed Russian goaltender Ilya Konovalov in-house if the need arises.
Bear with me for one second. I want to take a left turn here and talk about the 2021 NHL Draft.
Imagine a netminder who is as big as Koskinen but has Mike Smith’s personality and his athleticism? Is that a goalie that you’d take a chance on with your first pick in the upcoming draft because there’s a guy that fits that description to a T and his name is Sebastian Cossa.
Here is a snippet from The Draft Analyst’s scouting report on who he thinks has franchise goalie potential,
- “To call Cossa simply a “butterfly” goalie is redundant — every goalie at every level uses some form of the butterfly, therefore the tactic should be implied. Like most bigger netminders, Cossa limits his positioning to inside the crease and will not extend outside of it to challenge shooters.
- If one would compare him to recent top-rated goalie prospects, Cossa is neither as jittery as Yaroslav Askarov nor is he as robotic as Spencer Knight. Rather, Cossa combines fluid crease shuffles with compact movements and limits the amount of time he spends on his back or his pads. He’s not much of a risk taker and if Cossa gets beat, it’s rarely from his own egregious mistake or over-committal to one side. Cossa also doesn’t venture too far from the crease when facing a breakaway.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9l1vYBDfATM
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