Edmonton Oilers general manager Stan Bowman has faced questions surrounding the goaltending situation since the day he started on the job. It is one of the most pressing matters on both the fans and the media's minds.
The play and struggles of goaltenders Stuart Skinner and Calvin Pickard are not new, necessarily. Head coach Kris Knoblauch had to juggle between the two during last year's Stanley Cup Finals run due to the struggles of both men.
This has resulted in immense pressure in the market with the Oilers connected to almost every goaltender in trade rumours. The lack of urgency and the lack of moves in the crease has caused plenty of frustration from the fanbase as well.
Recently, multiple NHL insiders have been talking about the possibility of the Oilers acquiring a goaltending, speculating on which teams and players could be a fit for the Stanley Cup contenders.
Who is the rumoured target and does he fit the Oilers needs?
Both Elliotte Friedman and Frank Seravalli have independently spoken about the connection between the Oilers and Nashville Predators netminder, Juuse Saros.
The former Vezina Trophy contender has struggled the past two seasons, posting .895 and .894 save percentages, respectively. Before this, he was one of the best goalies across he entire NHL logging 60-plus games a season. As well, between 2016-17 and 2022-23 Saros held a save percentage equal to or greater than .914 every single year.
As well, he consistently posted truly remarkable advanced stats. According to hockey-reference.com he lead the league in 'goalie point shares' in 2021-22 and 2022-23. On top of this, between 2019-20 and 2022-23, Saros consistently posted a quality start percentage of above .600 every single season. A quality start is when a goalie posts a save percentage above the league average save percentage in a game they started.
Putting him behind a strong defensive group like the Oilers could help the team and his numbers immensely. He would also give the club a true chance at capturing a Stanley Cup and with his new eight-year contract extension just kicking in this season, he would keep the contention window wide open for many years to come.
There is one issue. The NHL salary cap.
Do the Oilers have the cap space to acquire Juuse Saros?
The short answer is, no they do not. The team just had to put a depth defenceman making a hair above league minimum on waivers and lose him for nothing because they needed the cap space to add Zach Hyman back into the lineup.
Even if the club sent down players to go down to the bare minimum 20-man roster (18 skaters, two goalies). As well, sending down every depth player who make over $1 million like; Ty Emberson, Kasperi Kapanen, and David Tomasek in favour of league minimum players like Curtis Lazar, Noah Philp, and Alec Regula, it is still not enough.
Using puckpedia.com, the Oilers cannot make the money work without moving significant salary off their books. Even trading Skinner is not enough to make it even out. The Oilers would still exceed the NHL salary cap by slightly above $2.6 million.
Saros makes $7.74 million annual average value for the next seven seasons after this, making the chances of a team retaining that amount, very unlikely. It seems most plausible for the Oilers to make this trade in the off season, should they choose to go down this route.
It is not the answer that many would want to hear but it is the harsh reality of the hard salary cap in the NHL.