For the moment, we can stop talking about a potential Jordan Binnington trade to the Edmonton Oilers.
Monday's episode of the 32 Thoughts podcast saw hosts Kyle Bukauskas and Elliotte Friedman touch on Binnington, who has been the subject of renewed trade talk after ex-Colorado Avalanche forward Erik Johnson brought up the Oilers as a potential destination for the long time St. Louis Blue.
Though it wasn't an outright denial of any potential deal, it was safe for listeners to assume that nothing was ultra imminent.
Friedman did reinforce the notion that Binnington is one of the better goaltenders in the sport at the moment. Even if the statistics don't prove that, Binnington knows how to win the big games. This much was only supported by Friedman during the podcast.
Where Friedman's thoughts on Binnington become more stern is in terms of the chances that Edmonton actually takes a chance on him at this moment. In that, he circled back to the regular season criticism to some capacity, citing Joel Hofer's success in particular as a means to almost force Binnington to consider leaving the only NHL team that he has been a part of to this point in his career.
With all of the above points in mind, Friedman concluded that the Oilers wouldn't immediately look into welcoming Binnington's hopes at a fresh start and bringing him into the fold. Even with his two-sided reasoning in mind, Friedman recognized that Tristan Jarry and Devon Levi are collectively producing at around the same level, if not significantly better.
Friedman's reasoning is exactly what Oilers fans are or should be keeping in mind
Almost everything Friedman brought up aligns with the line of thinking I established in an earlier piece panning the rumors. Binnington might be a good goaltender, but there is more than enough statistical evidence to counter the claim that he would be the best or even an option to help the Oilers right now.
Juuse Saros was cited as being a similar option to consider, but it's fair to claim he would be a better option. After all, he's off to a 5-3-4 start to the season and has a .911 save percentage across those contests. That said, it is hard to see Nashville moving off an asset like Saros right now; heading into Monday's action, the Predators are 8-4-5 and would hold one of the two Western Conference Wild Card spots.
Other consistently-rumored goaltending options like Buffalo Sabres netminder Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen and Toronto Maple Leafs netminder Anthony Stolarz are likely to be held onto in hopes of a significant reinforcement/replacement or a high return in case of a selloff. The former was consistently at the centre of trade rumors and could still be included in a future deal, while the latter was recently cited as an option for the New York Rangers.
The goaltending market was only recently reset with the Connor Hellebuyck trade. There's no reason for the Oilers to create any more movement.
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