Daniel Nugent-Bowman of The Athletic: 40-year-old Edmonton Oilers goaltender Mike Smith has another year let on his contract and played through multiple injuries all season.
“Playing through injuries for the majority of the season is not easy,” Smith said. “I don’t know where I’m going to be four months from now. I’ve obviously got a lot of stuff to deal with.”
Smith added that it’s too early to say if he’s going to retire before next season.
The Oilers would be okay with Smith and Stuart Skinner as their goaltender to start next season.
If he were to retire, the Oilers wouldn’t have to count his salary cap hit ($2.2 million) as his salary increases next season. If his health keeps him from not playing, he could be put on the LTIR.
If Mike Smith retired, he’d lose $2.5M remaining on his deal, & #LetsGoOilers would not carry a cap hit.
The 35+ rules changed in ‘20 MOU & don’t apply if there’s no bonus in year 2+ and year 2 is => than Year 1 comp.If he’s on LTIR next yr, gets 2.5Mhttps://t.co/R6fWgBm7h6 pic.twitter.com/lixXDsuO5B
— PuckPedia (@PuckPedia) June 7, 2022
The Oilers only have about $8 million in projected cap space and with only 15 players under contract. Top pending UFA goaltenders include Marc-Andre Fleury, Darcy Kuemper and Jack Campbell. Fleury wasn’t interested in coming to the Oilers this past season. The Oilers had previous interest in Kuemper before the Coyotes traded him to the Avalanche.
The next group of UFAs include Thomas Greiss, Martin Jones, Braden Holtby, Jaroslav Halak, Scott Wedgewood and Mikko Koskinen.
St. Louis Blues Ville Husso carries some risk as the 27-year-old has only been in 57 games, with 40 coming this year.
Trade options could be Alexandar Georgiev (Rangers), Ilya Samsonov (Capitals), James Reimer (Sharks), John Gibson (Ducks) and Cam Talbot (Wild).
Could the Oilers look at Kuemper again?
NHL Watcher: Jeff Marek yesterday on Sportnet: “I wonder what happens with Darcy Kuemper in the offseason? He’s a free agent, Edmonton tried before”
The Lighting are on the road against the Rangers and are
-125 on the moneyline with Betway