The Edmonton Oilers seem poised to bring back the goalie tandem of Stuart Skinner and Calvin Pickard, despite plenty of rumors that the team will change.
However, Edmonton could still look to add a goalie by the end of training camp when some goalies hit the waiver wire. Yet, NHL insider Allan Mitchell of The Athletic urges Edmonton to acquire Michael DiPietro from the Boston Bruins.
“The Oilers badly need a goalie solution, and DiPietro is part of a three-pronged goalie group heading into Boston’s training camp,” Mitchell wrote. “Jeremy Swayman (58 games) and Joonas Korpisalo (27 games) both struggled in front of an unusually porous Bruins defence in 2024-25 but are expected to return to form next season.
“DiPietro has played just three NHL games in his career, and none since 2021-22. He would be a distant bell option save for two strong AHL seasons with the Providence Bruins,” Mitchell added. “Last year, his .927 save percentage in 50 AHL games ranked No. 2 across the league. If he hits waivers, DiPietro is likely to be claimed before Edmonton’s turn, so a trade is probably necessary. That deal, should it come, might occur at the very end of training camp.”
With the Bruins having Jeremy Swayman and Joonas Korpisalo, DiPietro doesn’t have a path to playing time, so Boston could trade him. If he is indeed available, he would be a great fit for the Oilers.
DiPietro signed a two-year, $1.625 million deal with the Bruins this offseason. He’s appeared in 3 NHL games.
Bruins GM Explains Signing of DiPietro
Despite Boston having Swayman and Korpisalo under contract, Boston signed DiPietro to a two-year deal this offseason.
The 26-year-old adds some goalie depth, but will compete for a backup job. However, Bruins’ GM Don Sweeney says DiPietro is worth the risk.
“We’ve gone over that as a staff and agreed that when a player is playing well enough, he deserves the net regardless of who it is,” Sweeney said on July 1. “In Michael’s case, he had a tremendous year and was the AHL goalie of the year. We felt that him still being young enough, there’s growth potential in Michael as well. If Michael comes and pushes, maybe it makes the decision even harder for all of us internally. But that’s what we’re driving. It should be uncomfortable. We missed by a wide margin.”
DiPietro was selected 64th overall in 2017 by the Vancouver Canucks.
Oilers Looking at Goalie Upgrades
Edmonton has made the Stanley Cup Finals in back-to-back years, despite some subpar goalie play.
With that, Oilers’ general manager Stan Bowman has said he will look at making a change at goalie this offseason and into training camp.
“Part of the evaluation is the guys that we have, and if it makes the most sense to keep this group, that’s certainly a possibility. So I don’t know,” Bowman said. “We’re not at the point where we’re saying we’re definitely bringing in new goalies.”
The Oilers did sign Matt Tomkins to be the third goalie and play in the AHL. But, Edmonton could still look to add another NHL goalie.
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