The Edmonton Oilers have needed a start goaltender for a long time. The team has been without one for the entirety of the Connor McDavid era with arguably the best being Cam Talbot who gave the Oilers multiple seasons of high end goaltending.
Talbot's best came in 2016-17 where he played 73 games with a 42-22-8 record and a 2.39 goals against average and .919 save percentage. He also had a 31.2 goals saved above expected, the highest single season total of any Oilers goaltender during the McDavid era by over 10 GSAx.
Talbot was traded by the Oilers to the Philadelphia Flyers during the 2018-19 season and although remains unsigned today, has played well into his 30's and was a back stopper for the Detroit Red Wings this past season.
Since Talbot departed, the Oilers have struggled to keep a consistent goaltender between the pipes with the best arguably being Stuart Skinner who was dealt to the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2025 and has since signed as an unrestricted free agent with the Winnipeg Jets.
All of this makes the sting of the Oilers 2021 NHL Draft failure even more frustrating and heart breaking in hindsight. The team had a potential franchise netminder in their grasp but chose to let hm slip away completely.
The Oilers could have had a franchise goalie
Heading into the 2021 NHL Draft, the Oilers had the 20th overall selection and there were plenty of interesting prospects available in that range. Fortunately for the Oilers, they looked like they may have two highly touted goaltending prospects available at their pick.
These were Edmonton Oil Kings starter Sebastian Cossa and Swedish netminder Jesper Wallstedt. Wallstedt was the crown jewel of the two but both were expected to be rock solid goalies at the NHL level. On draft day, Wallstedt was slipping and looked like he might actually be available when the Oilers take the stage.
By most rankings, Wallstedt was expected to go firmly in the lottery range (16th overall) but instead, Cossa was selected 15th overall by the Detroit Red Wings and Wallstedt was slipping and looked like he may still be on the board for the Oilers. It looked like finally after all these years, the Oilers may be able to get their star homegrown goalie that they have wanted since Devan Dubnyk -- who realized his potential after he was traded by the Oilers.
Unfortunately, as the pick rolled around, general manager Ken Holland made a swap with the Minnesota Wild, sending them the 20th overall pick and acquiring back the 22nd overall selection and third round draft pick, at 90th overall.
The Wild did not hesitate and took Wallstedt, while the Oilers selected Xavier Bourgault and Luca Munzenberger. Now, fast forward five years and Wallstedt continues to haunt the Oilers and make them look silly, especially as he has started to come into his own and play like an elite goalie.
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