Should They Stay Or Should They Go: UFA Yann Danis

Wok With Yann : Photo credit: Thomas B. Shea / Houston Chronicle

YANN DANIS

POSITION: Goal

DOB: 21 JUN 81 (will be 31 on October 1st)

2011-12 NUMBERS: 26-14-2, 2.07 GAA, .924 SV% (w/ OKC), 8-6, 2.35, .901 playoffs

2011-12 SALARY:   650K

Much ado has been made about the goaltending situation in Edmonton.  It seems all but a given that this team will ride Devan Dubnyk into 2012-13 (yay!) with Nikolai Khabibulin as the backup (*cough).  The least that this club can do is tie a contract on a guy who is a solid go-to should either of 35 or 40 become unavailable for whatever reason.

REPLACEMENT LEVEL GOALTENDING:  WHAT’S THE COST?

You’re probably aware of the deal that went down between the Capitals and the Penguins a couple of days ago.

Fully cognizant of the fact that Tomas Vokoun wanted out of Washington, the Capitals acquired a seventh-round pick from Pittsburgh.  The Penguins got a guy who could easily fill in for Marc-Andre Fleury should Fleury soil the sheets like he did in this year’s playoffs. Vokoun finished the year with 25 wins, a .916 SV% and four shutouts.  The Penguins signed Vokoun to a two-year deal at $2M a piece.  Bet you they wish they could get rid of Fleury’s $5M cap.

I’m not suggesting the Oilers need to spend near that amount of money for a decent AHL guy – rather, the lesson is to have a contingency plan.  And God forbid, if Dubnyk goes down with anything that will keep him out of the lineup for more than fifteen minutes, it’d be nice to have a guy like Vokoun kicking around.

Really, what would it cost to keep a decent insurance policy in the system?  A two-way deal at 700-750K?

Danis put up excellent numbers as a member of the OKC Barons this year, throwing out a .924 SV% in 43 games played.  I can only speculate what Danis’ AHL numbers could translate to in the NHL, but if a .924 SV% can get me .910 in the NHL, I’d be accessing CapGeek’s buyout button for someone faster than you could imagine.

Take off the Oiler GM hat for a minute and think of the Barons –  Danis put up legit numbers as a Baron.  If the current Oilers aren’t going to taste success through victory, perhaps some of the guys in the pipeline would benefit from having a few victories under their belts?

Sign him up.

Follow Oil On Whyte on the Twitters.

Jeff – @OilOnWhyte

Grant- @RealOilFan

Samson – @threwittki

Ian – @ibleedoil

Jonathan – @jonrmcleod

Marcus – @SportMajor

Check out the Oilers Army!

Click Here to visit our NHL main page “Too Many Men” – Fansided’s Hockey Home on the Internets