Heading into the 2021-22 season, the Edmonton Oilers will have plenty of new faces on their roster. Whether or not the team has improved depends on who you talk to, but there is no denying that general manager Ken Holland has certainly shaken things up.
While he has been able to solidify the forward group going into next season, the blueline has weakened as a result. The one area that remains the same however is the goaltending. As of now, the Oilers remain with a tandem featuring Mike Smith and Mikko Koskinen, a twosome that isn’t instilling a ton of confidence in fans.
At this point, it is unclear whether Holland’s plan is to stick with what he has between the pipes or look to bolster the position. If Smith is able to have a similar as impressive as last, then this may not be an issue at all. However, his unexpectedly impressive performance last season at the age of 38 (39 now) makes his great year appear to be more of an outlier than what we can expect moving forward.
Smith’s age, paired with Koskinen’s struggles in 2020-21, makes this tandem a very risky bet. We know the Oilers tried to improve it earlier this offseason as they were heavily in on Darcy Kuemper though were outbid by the Colorado Avalanche. In fact, they even tried to improve it last offseason, as they went hard after goaltender Jacob Markstrom who ended up deciding to sign a deal with the Calgary Flames.
With NHL free agency having already begun a week ago, the number of available goalies has decreased in a major way. That doesn’t mean that there aren’t any who are up for grabs, however. Let’s take a look at a few the Oilers could still look to bring in some likely additions, and a few wild card options.