A little patience on the Edmonton Oilers’ goalie search?
Mark Spector of Sportsnet: It is obvious that Edmonton has to address their goaltending issues but patience could be a virtue here. Their goaltending was good enough to finish in the middle of the pack but Mike Smith, the backup, is 38. Does Ken Holland consider replacing that cog or does he wait a year?
Pittsburgh has a couple restricted free agent goaltenders in their mid 20’s in Tristan Jarry and Matt Murray. St. Louis has two goalies where one likely has to go. The problem is any money in has to go money-out. Ken Holland’s hands are tied literally.
He can hope to find the next Cam Talbot or just go through the draft. The draft, as we know, seems to take forever.
David Staples of the Edmonton Journal: Again, it is clear that Edmonton fans want to replace Smith and honestly most in the media do as well. Who do you replace him with? It is the question which keeps getting asked.
The spending budget for Ken Holland is $4 million if he stretches things. Now, that would likely mean a corollary move somewhere. Would there need to be sweeteners involved? That remains a possibility too. Holland dangling a defenseman like Kris Russell or even a forward like Jesse Puljujarvi could help too.
Realistically, options are limited at best. Would a goalie want to come to Edmonton knowing that Koskinen will start around half the games at least? Consider, that Koskinen posted a solid .917 save percentage on a mediocre home team and this answer is not so crystal clear.
Is depth and the Superstars’ defense the real issue?
Daniel Nugent-Bowman of The Athletic: Depth is a tender subject in the NHL and not always easy to address. Then, there is how the superstars of a team play a “two-way game”.
With the flat $81.5 million salary cap, Ken Holland is limited in adding depth but could find a few bottom-six forwards at a cheaper rate. That is about the only way Holland can add depth. That depth will have to excel at defense as his superstars improve and gain experience at the craft.