Let’s Break Down The Edmonton Oilers Goaltending
The main talking point of the Edmonton Oilers this season has been the goaltending. Whether it was the conversation of trading for a better goalie, or which goalie should start on a given night. This season the Edmonton Oilers goaltending has been a bit of a three headed monster, unfortunately the monster is not a scary one to face.
While Mike Smith was injured for the majority of the start of the season Mikko Koskinen and Stuart Skinner handled the load fairly well for the first few months. Then came the month of December. In December the Oilers went 3-7-1.
In the 20 games before December the Oilers goals against average (GAA) was 3 with a record of 15-5. In the month of December the GAA was 3.7, so they were allowing almost one more goal per game. Since December has ended the GAA is back down to 3.2 and a record of 19-13-4. So is no surprise when the Oilers allow less goals, they win more.
So far this season the goaltending numbers for the Edmonton Oilers hasn’t been good. The weird thing is that the goalie with the best numbers is currently starting games in the AHL. At some point the coach/management of this team need to settle on what goalie is going to be the starter going down the stretch.
Who will be the Edmonton Oilers starter the rest of the season and in the playoffs?
This is the million dollar question for Oiler fans right now. No one seems to be able to agree on what is the right answer. Most people at least want to take a look at Skinner as the starter for the NHL club. If they do that which of the veteran goalies becomes the 3rd string tender. The stats would say Smith would be at the bottom.
Want your voice heard? Join the Oil On Whyte team!
This team hasn’t been much for looking at stats when choosing their starter in the past. I think the team looks at which goalie has the potential to be better. I think Mike Smith has a higher ceiling of play than Koskinen, but also has a lower floor and average so far this season. The thing with Koskinen is more times than not you know what you are getting.
I can’t read the future about who Jay Woodcroft will start moving forward, but I can look at some numbers and take a stab on what is going to happen.