The 2026-27 NHL season might be just a week old, but injuries have already shaken up the league's landscape.
Such has only been reinforced as of recent, with New York Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin now out for the season due to a knee injury. With veteran netminder Joonas Korpisalo also out due to injury for the next few weeks, the Rangers are down to Dylan Garand and Spencer Martin; the latter was recently recalled from their AHL affiliate, the Hartford Whalers.
Even though Shesterkin's injury might very well derail the Rangers' positive start to the season, which has seen them win four of their first six games, it doesn't seem like they're punting on the 2026-27 campaign. A Yahoo Sports piece made the case for each of the four goaltenders that are still free agents - Connor Ingram, James Reimer, Matt Murray, and Petr Mrazek - to be signed by the Rangers. But the piece also made clear that Ingram and Mrazek aren't really options, especially given that Ingram made his intent to retire from professional hockey clear and that Mrazek only recently had hip surgery.
The prospect of a trade had also been discussed; Inside the Rink discussed Sam Montembeault and Jordan Binnington as possible trade options. The problem with almost any goaltender trade is that the Rangers would need to ask for salary to be absorbed or give up players in an effort to remain cap-compliant. Such is especially true in the case of Montembeault and Binnington; the former has a cap hit of $3.150 million, while acquiring the latter would force the Rangers to ask the Blues to absorb over half of the $6 million cap hit.
The Oilers don't have any leverage in the goaltending department, but they're still going to get roped into the shockwave
The Edmonton Oilers are far from being primed to trade for a star goaltender, but it's not conceivable in the slightest that their interest in doing so will not keep them from being involved in the fallout of Shesterkin's injury.
Devon Levi might be improving as the days go by, but Tristan Jarry is still a liability to some capacity (even with his performance against the San Jose Sharks in mind), and Stanley Cup champion Frederik Andersen is on injured reserve. Besides those three, the Oilers have a prospect pool that is only four goaltenders deep.
It's not an ideal situation in what is the most do-or-die season for this Oilers roster, but there's room for the goaltending to change that outlook.
Even then, the Oilers have been linked to Connor Hellebuyck, whose suspension is drawing so much interest that fans are now counting how much money he has lost by sitting out. Given that the goaltending hasn't really been Edmonton's forte in recent years, a superstar goalie like Hellebuyck would easily create one of the league's more feared units. With Andersen and (likely) one of Jarry and Levi still in tow, the Oilers would truly have the goaltending unit to get back to the Stanley Cup Final and perhaps win it outright.
But NHL Trade Talk recently proposed the possibility that the Rangers could enter the fold in an effort to maintain their start to the season and convert it into a playoff berth. And they have the draft capital to do it; they have their first-round pick in two of the next three drafts and a second-round selection in each of the next three. They also have 14 non-roster forwards, seven non-roster defensemen, and 22 additional players that have not yet been signed to an entry-level contract.
If Winnipeg wanted to continue rolling the dice on an in-form Stuart Skinner and Clay Stevenson, something that I previously proposed as a route for the Oilers to acquire Hellebuyck, they could opt to flip their Vezina-winning goalie for some picks and prospects. If the Jets chose that kind of return, the Rangers would have a considerable bidding advantage; even when considering that prospects like David Lewandowski and Quinn Hutson are in the Oilers' system, the Rangers have the advantage in terms of draft selections.
The fact that there is a waiting game on Hellebuyck already doesn't do Edmonton any favors as it is. The Rangers' situation and their stronger ability to entice the Jets to make a trade work makes Edmonton's case for Hellebuyck even weaker if their own goaltending tandem forces the team to seriously consider that avenue.
Besides Hellebuyck, whatever the Rangers end up doing will almost certainly have an impact on the league's goaltending situation. A trade could easily set off a goaltending carousel that would draw in any team that doesn't feel confident about their netminding unit.
Given that the potential list of teams would be quite extensive, that only disadvantages the Oilers more.
It's a lose-lose for Edmonton, now and in the future.
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