A tiered list of candidates if the Oilers trade for a goalie

Oct 23, 2025, 13:39 EDTUpdated: Oct 23, 2025, 13:55 EDT

A tiered list of candidates if the Oilers trade for a goalie

Stop it. Don’t tell yourself it’s good enough, Edmonton Oilers fans.

Connor McDavid just committed to you for two more seasons after this one. You get three more swings at the Stanley Cup, and nobody knows what happens after that. McDavid did not re-up to play on a mediocre team.

Which is why you, the fans, I, the reporter, and Oilers GM Stan Bowman cannot squelch back into the comfortable quicksand of believing this team’s goaltending is satisfactory. Yes, Stuart Skinner has a shutout, a pair of wins and a .909 save percentage on the season, but he’s posted a SV% south of .900 in his other three starts. Through his 229 career NHL appearances between the regular season and playoffs, we have a pretty good idea of who he is: a wildly inconsistent netminder who can play at an All-Star level in bursts and be a liability when he’s off his game.

Stuart’s five-game sample size early in 2025-26 perfectly epitomizes his close-your-eyes-and-spin-the-wheel existence. Backup Calvin Pickard has also delivered one Jekyll and one Hyde performance in his two starts this season. Connor Ingram, on whom the Oilers bought low via trade, has started strongly with AHL Bakersfield. You can look at that trio and tell yourself there’s potential – but, please, just STOP. The Oilers only have so many runs left during the primes of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. They at least have to consider wading into the goaltending market this season, and with Skinner and Pickard’s contracts expiring next summer, it wouldn’t prove too difficult to nudge one of them out to accommodate a trade for a new stopper.

If Edmonton decides to chase another goalie at some point in 2025-26, who might be available? Let’s explore a tiered list, from least to most exciting.

LOW-CEILING VETERAN STOPGAPS

Alex Lyon, Buffalo Sabres

The Sabres signed Lyon for two years at $1.5 million per. But if their season goes to hell, there’s no reason to cling to him, especially with Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen still viewed as their starter and Devon Levi and Colten Ellis in the organization, too. Lyon, 32, has demonstrated an ability to get hot and hold his own as a starter for extended stretches. That said, we can’t confidently claim he’s better than Skinner day in and day out.

David Rittich or Semyon Varlamov, New York Islanders

Varlamov remains sidelined as he works his way back from a knee injury, with the veteran Rittich backing up Ilya Sorokin for now. When Varlamov returns, the Isles will have a logjam and could ship one of their veterans to a goalie-needy club. Varlamov has demonstrated the higher ceiling in his career, but is 37 and two years removed from his last great season, so Rittich might make more sense. But he has a .904 career SV% compared to Skinner’s .906, so we can’t call ‘Big Save Dave’ a definitive upgrade.

BUY LOWS WITH UPSIDE

Tristan Jarry, Pittsburgh Penguins

Hey. I said buy low. In this case, very low. Jarry is trying to claw his way to the surface following a nightmarish 2024-25 campaign in which he lost his confidence and was waived and demoted to the AHL for a while. He’s a good goalie when his head is clear; he’s finished seventh in the Vezina Trophy vote twice. He also looks quite competent early in 2025-26. The Oilers would want to see a much larger sample size of success this season before making such a move – and if you’re pursuing Jarry and his $5.375-million cap hit (surely 50 percent retained), it’s only if Skinner and Pickard’s play has reached all-time lows.

Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, Buffalo Sabres

‘UPL’ came into his own as a starter in 2023-24 but regressed badly last season and hasn’t appeared yet in 2025-26 as he works his way back from a lower-body injury. He’s a gamble, but the former elite prospect’s upside also hasn’t gone anywhere, and he’s signed through 2028-29 at a reasonable $4.75-million AAV. He’s also never played for an NHL team besides the lowly Sabres. At 26, with good size and athleticism, he could blossom with a competitive club playing in front of him. If the Sabres decide to usher in the Levi era, might they be willing to part with Luukkonen?

BETTING ON YOUTH

Arturs Silovs, Pittsburgh Penguins

Why would the Pens punt on Silovs, whom they just acquired and who is off to a strong start this season? General manager Kyle Dubas likes his top two netminding prospects, Sergei Murashov and Joel Blomqvist, and may not want to block them from Pittsburgh’s net for too long. The Oilers are familiar with Silovs, who faced them for all seven games of their second-round series with the Vancouver Canucks in 2023-24 and had his moments. He’s just 24 and only has 23 regular-season appearances to his name, so the 2023 World Championship MVP possesses underrated upside.

Arvid Soderblom, Chicago Blackhawks

The Hawks need Soderblom for now as Spencer Knight’s backup, especially with Laurent Brossoit not close to returning from his serious knee injury. But Soderblom has just one season after this one at $2.75 million per year, and prospect Drew Commesso is approaching NHL-backup readiness, faring well with AHL Rockford. If the Hawks find themselves out of contention by winter, they could probably spare Soderblom, who quietly graded out above average in expected goals against per 60 last season, his performance masked by playing on such a bad team.

‘REALISTIC’ STARTER TARGETS

John Gibson or Cam Talbot, Detroit Red Wings

The Red Wings have sizzled to a 5-2-0 start, but this group has fooled us early in the season before, so we can’t declare them a playoff contender just yet. Even if they are, their current duo is blocking mega-prospect Sebastian Cossa, who is bordering on Quad-A status in the AHL. It makes sense for now to keep giving him work there, but Trey Augustine, who may be an even better prospect, will turn pro soon enough, and someone will have to play in the NHL eventually. Talbot played some of the best hockey of his career as an Oiler in the past, and Gibson reminded us last year that he still has the ceiling of a top-end starter. If the Wings need to address a need elsewhere in their lineup – or if they end up not in the hunt by March – could they trade from their position of extreme organizational surplus?

Elvis Merzlikins, Columbus Blue Jackets

Jet Greaves was outstanding late last season and has carried that play into 2025-26. Merzlikins has had six years of runway and has been the subject of trade rumors for the past several. With his deal expiring after next season, his $5.4-million cap hit no longer feels prohibitive. He’s not ancient at 31 and has the talent and swagger to be a difference maker when he’s on – and so far this season, he is, posting a .927 SV% in his first three games. If Greaves wins the starting gig outright, Merzlikins could become a trade chip – though perhaps Edmonton would need to send a goalie Columbus’ way given the Blue Jackets depleted their depth when they traded Daniil Tarasov in the summer. They have Ivan Fedotov in the AHL, but he has a ways to go to show he can be an NHL backup.

PIPE DREAMS

Joey Daccord, Seattle Kraken

Daccord ranks among the NHL’s best bargains. Over the previous two seasons, among goalies with at least 50 games, he posted the fifth-best SV% in the NHL. So why on Earth would Seattle want to move him when he’s signed four more seasons at a $5-million cap hit? Say the Kraken fall flat this season and finally realize they need to move backward to go forward and stop trying to take shortcuts on their rebuild (I guess it’s just “build” if you’re a four-year-old franchise?). Maybe they’d be amenable to a trade that netted them Draft capital and a quality prospect. I’m not saying Daccord is or should be available, but might he be for a Godfather offer from a desperate team?

Juuse Saros, Nashville Predators

Call it a hunch that a Predators fire sale looms. They opened last season with five consecutive losses and have dropped five of seven to begin 2025-26. The vultures will circle GM Barry Trotz, first swooping around the more attainable veteran pieces such as Jonathan Marchessault and Ryan O’Reilly, but perhaps inquiring about core players like Filip Forsberg at some point as well. Would Nashville ever consider moving Saros, who has a full no-movement clause and is just commencing an eight-year contract? Highly unlikely. But picture a scenario in which Nashville goes full scorched-earth and starts over. Would Saros and Trotz at least be open to a conversation about it? Who knows? Reminder, this is the Pipe Dream tier.

Ilya Sorokin, New York Islanders

If the Oilers could snap a finger and install a shiny new starting goaltender, paying whatever acquisition cost was necessary, this is their guy. Sorokin is an elite-tier stopper, with a .915 career SV% that places him 23^rd on the NHL’s all-time list. He’s still in his prime by goalie-age standards at 30. He plays on a team that just won the Draft Lottery, is starting over with 2025 No. 1 overall pick Matthew Schaefer as its cornerstone and was also willing to trade top defenseman Noah Dobson for futures last June. Given Sorokin is signed through 2031-32, he’ll likely still be the Isles’ starter by the time they rise into their next contention window. But he’ll also be in his mid-30s by then. Would GM Mathieu Darche ever consider selling Sorokin now at his peak value?

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POST SPONSORED BY bet365

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