1. Mikko Koskinen
Mikko Koskinen is on this list for his cap hit($4.5 million) just as much as he is an area that needs improvement. It’s not that Koskinen has horrendous numbers this season, it just that if the Oilers want to go on a long run they will need a goalie with better numbers. Although Koskinen has had no issues in his last 3 starts, the starts before that were rough. Letting in the first goal early, and easily really caused this team some hardships while they were in the middle of their December/January slump.
Through 25 games played this year Koskinen has a save % of 0.900 with a goals against average of 3.16. He is actually performing just slightly lower than the league average. Which is 0.906% and 2.83 GAA. So why are we so hard on Koskinen in this market? It is when he lets in the goals and the type of goals he has let in.
Hockey is more than just stats. A goal being let in when you are up 3 means a lot less than a goal against when you are tied. So Koskinen may make a majority of his saves, but he doesn’t make them when they need him to.
This trend has stopped over the last couple of games though. This is good news if the Edmonton Oilers would like to trade him. No team wants to bring in a bad goalie no matter what the circumstances are. The fact the Koskinen has been playing good and getting the Oilers some win is good for everyone.
If the Edmonton Oilers are to trade away Mikko, don’t expect to get much in return. Getting ride of Mikko’s cap hit is the win. If you lose Koskinen’s cap hit the Oilers would have the cap room to bring in a fairly expensive player that could help this team where they really need help.