Oilers Goaltending

[Melloj]

In the team in the sig below, I'm in first, but goal is my weakest spot.

I picked up Koski when Smith went down and basically have given up winning the SV% and GAA cats and focusing on the volume goalie cats, GS, W and SA.

Trying to read the tea leaves and see what the Oilers goalie situation will be:

a) Smith comes back soon; drop Koski and get Skinner?
b) Smith comes back soon; keep Koski?
c) Smith is out long term; keep Koski and grab Skinner.

Much depends on what's going on with Smith, but is there a world where Skinner stays up with Smith back?

[stevegamer]

I don't think Skinner stays up with Smith back, unless somebody trades for one of Smith or Koskinen to open a spot.

[Axeman33]

I don't understand why A is an option. Once Smith comes back, Skinner is back in the AHL.

When Smith comes back off IR, do you HAVE to drop someone?

[Melloj]

I don't understand why A is an option. Once Smith comes back, Skinner is back in the AHL.

When Smith comes back off IR, do you HAVE to drop someone?

Haha - I agree about Option A, but reading some opinions out of Edmonton, Skinner is the second coming....

I've also picked up Wedgewood to get the volume cats locked and he's been decent, but its the Yotes, so he could be a drop. Or if Koski goes back to being a true back-up again, could be him. But yes, someone will need to be dropped.

[Axeman33]

Skinner is the closest thing they have to being NHL ready in the system today but not sure anyone feels he's the second coming of anything. If I were betting on future options, I'd say Konovalov is who they are looking at taking the reigns long term. It's always hard to say with goalies. Skinner is a good short term option for them though but both Smith and Koskinen are their NHL goalies this year, health dependent of course. A lot of people are assuming the Oilers will trade for a goalie this year too but that's another story for another day.

[Feenom]

When Smith comes back, Skinner is gone. If he doesn't come back in the meantime it's Koski/Skinner combo. Also, when Smith is back he is the default #1. So a combination of choices B and C. All depends on Smith of course.

[stevegamer]

Haha - I agree about Option A, but reading some opinions out of Edmonton, Skinner is the second coming....

Skinner is the next coming of a goalie who plays for the Oilers regularly in the NHL, unless they trade for someone who is a bigger name, then it'll be whomever that is. Don't get worked up about a fanbase desperate for a golaie hyping up a guy who projects decently, but not amazingly. He's been solid in the AHL, but not incredible.

[LawMan]

Skinner is the future. Hopefully he is a long-term and successful future with the team.
In the present Skinner has played solid but is still 3rd on the depth chart behind Smith and Koskinen.
The moment Smith returns from IR Skinner is sent to the AHL to continue to get games in and work on his game.
Any trade requires a goalie (almost certainly Koskinen) be sent out so Smith/New Guy would then by the tandem.

Grabbing Skinner and hoping he long-term becomes the starter is a risky and maybe reasonable play. Grabbing Skinner thinking he makes a big impact this year is a unlikely.

[Invictus]

Having Smith or Koskinen is such a rollercoaster.
Unsure if I'd rather have one of them or Grubby in H2H...

[Melloj]

Well with Smith “week to week at best” I’ve put in a waiver claim for Skinner, but given I have 11th/12 waiver priority suspect an enterprising GM will grab him. In that case going to have to hold on to Wedge just so I don’t lose my Starts and SA cats each week.

Trying to also swing a trade for Talbot in which case would just drop Wedge and not bother with Skinner and have Helly, Talbot, Ullmark and Koski until Smith is back.

[Avs31]

Koskinen is bad. Smith potentially out long term. Skinner is the guy for this year until Smith comes back. Long term not sure what to make of Skinner but hes been their best goalie to date..

[Chewbert]

Really depends on the league etc. It would be tough to ever see him not in the A with a healthy Smith and Koski. With that being said, as mentioned above, Smith's timeline to return is a complete unknown currently. I decided to grab Skinner in my salary cap year-long league hoping he gets a good share of work in Smiths absence and its a cheap risk to take. Really comes down to your team needs but don't see him putting up great numbers, just hoping for some starts and wins.

[felix.potvin29]

Update on Smith is that he will be back in mid-December. Having Smith on my IR I bought stakes in Skinner and he has been solid so far even with last nights loss. I am definitely prepared to drop him once Smith is back as he likely goes back to the AHL, but will hold on until that decision is made.

[hockeyrobot]

Sounds like Smith is ready to go and this article makes it sound like Koskinen could be the odd man out!

https://edmontonjournal.com/sports/h...-oilers-crease

Some nuances involved in both issues, both of which work against veteran Mikko Koskinen .

Firstly, the newly-announced taxi squad would be the obvious landing spot for whichever of Koskinen or Stuart Skinner is odd man out. However, parsing the fine print of the taxi squad qualifications , Skinner is ineligible to be placed there:

Players are ineligible for the taxi squad if they meet all 3 of the following criteria:
A) Players on NHL rosters (either active, injured, or COVID list) as of Dec 22, 2021
B) Players that are waivers exempt
C) Players on NHL Roster 75% of NHL regular season days (54 days as of Dec 22) or Players who dressed for 16 of the NHL team’s last 20 games

Skinner checks all three of those boxes, Koskinen just two. The key difference being that Skinner remains waivers exempt this season so could only be assigned to Bakersfield, while Koskinen would have go through the waiver route first, but then could be re-assigned to either Bako or the taxi squad. Given his $4,500,000 cap hit he would be virtually certain to clear; if somehow he didn’t, the Oilers would be gifted with a lot of cap space to solve that issue and others.

As for the second issue, both PuckPedia and CapFriendly agree the Oilers had exactly $536,667 in cap space over the extended holiday break. The squad would need to open up some $1,663,333 more cap space to accommodate for Smith. A return of Skinner to the farm would open up just $750,000, whereas if Koskinen were to be reassigned, that would open up $1.125 million of cap space, the maximum that can be “buried” on a single contract.

[Axeman33]

Hard to say how Kenny Holland will play this.