The Edmonton Oilers are in a pickle. They have to be proactive in improving their goaltending, but they only have $225,834 in cap space to work with.
The Athletic’s James Mirtle has recently linked the Oilers with several different teams and goalie upgrades: John Gibson & Cam Talbot of the Detroit Red Wings, the New York Islanders‘ Semyon Varlamov, Connor Ingram of the Utah Mammoth, Petr Mrazek of the Anaheim Ducks, the Pittsburgh Penguins‘ Tristan Jarry, and Elvis Merzlikins of the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Edmonton Oilers Left With Slim Pickings
Mirtle’s report sheds light on the goaltending situation prevalent across the NHL at present. It also highlights the predicament the Oilers club finds themselves in.
“It’s pretty thin out there in NHL creases,” Mirtle wrote on August 27th. “A lot of teams are going with pretty inexperienced options in the backup role, so it’s hard to see them moving a starter. Have to be honest, I thought when I started researching this question, there would be more options than there are.”
The fact that many teams are going with less experienced backups this year is an interesting observation. That puts the Oilers into a better position than some of those other clubs.
Mirtle then discusses the attributes of the team that would make it an ideal trading partner.
“The perfect option for the Oilers would be a team that had designs on having a better season, struggling out of the gate and starting to shed talent aggressively,” Mirtle writes. “The way the Bruins did last season. But who is that team?”
The Oilers’ Current Options in Net vs 7 Potential Upgrades
Stuart Skinner and Calvin Pickard have been the Oilers duo for the past two seasons. Here is a table comparing them to the seven targets identified by Mirtle in a few key categories:
*Note: All stats taken from Dobber Hockey’s Frozen Tools
| Goalie | GSAx | QS% | RBS% | Steals | PL |
| Stuart Skinner | -0.27 | 49 | 23.5 | 4 | 5 |
| Calvin Pickard | -8.74 | 55.6 | 16.7 | 2 | 1 |
| John Gibson | 10.29 | 51.7 | 10.3 | 1 | 0 |
| Cam Talbot | 2.82 | 51.1 | 21.3 | 7 | 5 |
| Semyon Varlamov | -4.37 | 50 | 30 | 0 | 2 |
| Connor Ingram | -7 | 36.4 | 22.7 | 1 | 2 |
| Petr Mrazek | -11.44 | 44.7 | 21.1 | 3 | 2 |
| Tristan Jarry | -8.29 | 47.2 | 22.2 | 2 | 1 |
| Elvis Merzlikins | -11.28 | 49.1 | 26.4 | 4 | 6 |
A few observations about the numbers on this table. Only three of the targets have a better Quality Starts percentage (QS%) than Skinner: Gibson, Talbot, and Varlamov. QS% is the percentage of games the goalie played where they posted a save percentage that was higher than the league average. This serves as a good measuring stick to gauge a goaltender’s consistency over the course of a season.
For Goals Saved Above Expected (GSAx), only Gibson and Talbot performed better than Skinner. GSAx is the difference between what a goalie is expected to allow and what they actually allow. Only Gibson and Talbot have a positive number in this category for last season.
The longer you look at the chart above, the more it seems that Gibson and Talbot present the best options for the Oilers. They both performed well, and both have a history of playing a large number of games during the season.
Can the Oilers Find an Upgrade Here?
It’s easy to put a lot of weight into what happened last season. However, examining the past three seasons cumulatively provides more insight into these nine goaltenders (the seven targets plus the two Oilers goalies).
Skinner has the most games played (160), wins (91), and QS (89). He also has the third-best QS% (55.6) and third-best goals against average (GAA) with 2.72.
It also reinforces a pattern seen in last year’s statistics, that Talbot is the best option among the bunch. He has a 56.9 QS%, 65 Wins, and 2.74 GAA over the previous three years.
He’s the only goalie of the seven potential upgrades who can give Skinner a run for his money, in addition to providing experience and a calm demeanor.
Like Heavy Sports’s content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was originally published on Heavy Sports
The post Oilers Trade Rumors: Linked to 7 Goalie Upgrades appeared first on Heavy Sports.