The Edmonton Oilers have a goaltending problem. This is not news, the team underwent a major facelift in-season, completely swapping their original goaltending tandem to a new duo.
The Oilers entered the season with Stuart Skinner and Calvin Pickard manning their crease. However, general manager Stan Bowman made a preseason trade to acquire Connor Ingram, originally to be an insurance marker for the club and a December trade with the Pittsburgh Penguins to acquire goaltender Tristan Jarry.
Ultimately, Ingram and Jarry took over the crease with the former winning the starter's net down the stretch and into the playoffs. Now as the Oilers enter this offseason, Ingram is set to become an unrestricted free agent but the team will be on the hook for Jarry and his $5.375 million caphit for the next two seasons.
This gives the Oilers one opening in their crease for sure with a second one opening up if Bowman opts to shop Jarry. Another thing to consider is the organizational depth as the Oilers showed last season, it never hurts to have an insurance option when you need it.
According to NHL insider Frank Seravalli's Hockey 24/7 trade targets board there are two young goalies who ar rumoured to be available that should catch the eye of GM Stan Bowman. Those being, Sebastian Cossa and Devon Levi.
Oilers should target two young goalies this summer
As previously mentioned, Cossa and Levi are reported to be available, debuting on Seravalli's first offseason trade targets board at sixth and 23rd, respectively. It has also been widely reported by other NHL insiders that both goaltenders are expected to be made available this summer. Jeff Marek specifically said "it's over with Devon Levi and the Buffalo Sabres" last week.
So, who are both of these goalies and why should they be on the Oilers radar?
Sebastian Cossa
Cossa is 23 years old but will turn 24 early next season. He was a highly touted prospect, being selected 15th overall by the Detroit Red Wings at the 2021 NHL Draft. He boasts the coveted modern day size of an NHL goaltender at 6'6 and has been a standout at every level he has established himself in so far.
He has averaged 40 games played for the Red Wings' American Hockey League affiliate, the Grand Rapids Griffins over the past three seasons. In each of those seasons he has held a save percentage above .910. Overall at the AHL level, Cossa has compiled a 70-33-19 record with a .911 save percentage and 2.46 goals against average along with eight shutouts.
The asking price for Cossa is unclear with some inaccurately quoting Frank Seravalli as suggesting it was a second round pick. Either way, if Cossa is available, it likely would not be for a whole lot and the Oilers should be at least kicking tires on him to try and acquire him from the Red Wings.
He is set to become a restricted free agent this summer, meaning that his next deal should be cheap, something that will be attractive for the Oilers.
Devon Levi
Buffalo Sabres prospect Levi is a year older than Cossa at 24 years old, turning 25 in December, he also differs from Cossa by his size, being relatively small for a modern goalie at just 6'0. However, he was also a highly touted goaltender after racking up plenty of accolades in his NCAA career, winning the Mike Richter award as the top collegiate goalie in both of his NCAA seasons as well as being a Hobey Baker award finalist.
He quickly earned a name as one of the NHL's hottest up-and-coming goalies but has seemingly struggled to breakthrough to the next level pn a consistent basis after spending the past three seasons in the AHL with the Rochester Americans. There, he has put up respectable numbers with 120 games played and a 64-39-22 record along with a .914 save percentage and 2.52 GAA with 10 shutouts. He also has logged a moderate sample size of NHL starts, having played 39 games for the Sabres over parts of three seasons with a 17-17-2 record and a 3.29 GAA and .894 save percentage.
Much like Cossa, it is unclear exactly what the asking price for Levi would be but again, it should not be anything astounding. The Oilers should also be interested in Levi, he has shown promise at the NHL level with all of his games coming before the 2025-26 season, meaning his experience has been exclusively on a basement dwelling Sabres club. He has proven himself to be successful at every single level throughout his career from Junior A, NCAA, AHL, NHL, and even on the international stage.
Levi has one season remaining on his current two-year contract, giving him just an $812,500 caphit.
Why should the Oilers acquire one of these two?
Looking ahead to the 2026 unrestricted free agency class does not generate a lot of optimism. The best of the bunch is Sergei Bobrovsky, who the Oilers reportedly showed interest in ahead of the latest trade deadline but it falls off after that. There are some potential options but nobody that feels like a slam dunk. So, if you are going to be taking a risk either way, you may as well shoot for the players with upside if the price is right.
This strategy worked well for Kyle Dubas and the Pittsburgh Penguins who did this last offseason by acquiring Arturs Silovs from the Vancouver Canucks for minor league player Chase Stillman and a 2027 fourth round selection.
If the Oilers can pull off a similar move, they may be able to find a cost controlled and competent goalie who can give them a chance to win for a cheap cost. Something that is nearly priceless in today's NHL, especially if you have the star power that the Oilers have.
Add us as a preferred source on Google