Oilers making goaltending gamble for third straight playoffs

Oilers General Manager Ken Holland resisted calls to acquire goaltending support at the NHL trade deadline and the Oilers now face another postseason riding a net-minding tandem that came up short in the last two campaigns.

Video Transcript

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Avry, how is it at Edmonton? I mean, I guess they kind of considered Evander Kane as their prize until they ended up with Brett Kulak? And Derick Broussard-- shout out Derick Broussard, who I think only one other NHL player-- actually, if you remember the trade deadline trivia quiz we did last week, one other player, I believe, has been on more teams than Derick Broussard. One other player?

AVRY LEWIS-MCDOUGALL: Oh, one other player. Is it Mike Sillinger?

JULIAN MCKENZIE: It's Mike Sillinger.

AVRY LEWIS-MCDOUGALL: Yes.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: He's been traded to-- I think only one other guy's been traded to more teams, or at least has ended up on more teams. Anyway, tell us about how the Edmonton Oilers did, how people are feeling there?

AVRY LEWIS-MCDOUGALL: OK, first things first, Broussard and Kulak, I don't mind it. I don't mind Kulak. He's a good defensive defenseman. He is someone who will be a good depth D-man. But for the Oilers, the big thing that we've been saying on many aspects of this team need to address, and still did not do, is goaltending.

That is what this team has needed. I said from the mountaintops for many, many, times, ride Stewart Skinner. Call him from Bakersfield, making him your number one goaltender. He's been your best goalie so far this year. What do they do?

They don't do it. They don't trade for a goaltender. I want him to go and get James Reimer. Remember, been playing great in San Jose. The Sharks are going be a playoff team. He has a .916 save percentage. Go out and get James Reimer. He can still be a 1A or 1B goaltender.

But instead, Ken Holland keeps insisting that he can ride it out with Costman him and Mike Smith. Mike Smith has shown his body is breaking down. He's not consistent. And you want to ride that again into a third straight playoff series when it wasn't enough against Winnipeg? Wasn't enough against Chicago. You want to go into your three with that gamble and possibly get your head kicked in against the Kings, Golden Knights, or the Flames? Ugh.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: You look so disappointed.

AVRY LEWIS-MCDOUGALL: Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me thrice, I don't know anymore.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Bro, I don't know, man. Geez, you let that off from your chest.

OMAR: Your soul was coming out there.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: OK. I don't want Omar to talk about the Leafs yet, because I know if we let him talk about the Leafs, we're going to be here all day. So Sam, talk about Travis Hamonic leaving from the Canucks, and everything else that happened.

SAM CHANG: Like I said earlier, that was hands down the best trade of the trade deadline. I do not know how Jim Rutherford and Patrick Alvin managed to trade Travis Hamonic and his contract for a third round pick, their own third round pick.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Their own third round pick.

SAM CHANG: Which opens up all kinds of possibilities.

OMAR: Oh my gosh.

SAM CHANG: All kinds of possibilities.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Shout out, Rachel Dory, by the way.

OMAR: Literally, Yeah.

SAM CHANG: Absolutely. Shout out to Rachel Dory. And then they managed to get Travis Dermott. You know, it's not a-- he's better than Hamoniic. He's better than Hamonic and he's $1.5 million cheaper. So they didn't trade any of their big names, they didn't have any kind of massive moves.

But this was one trade deadline where the Canucks didn't trade away their assets, or just randomly add to their cap space for no reason. So it was a win.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: That's good. That's good. That's the most glowing review of the Vancouver Canucks we've heard on this show maybe ever. Maybe ever. I'm not used to-- even when Bruce There It Is was the big thing, I'm sure you found a way to bring in some negative. This is the most positive.

SAM CHANG: I was like, they cleared cap space? Like, I don't understand what's happening here.

OMAR: Like, is there a condition? Or like, what's going on?

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Something must be up. It's the fact that they got their own pick back. And I know it was traded around different trades. It's the fact that they got their own third round pick back, a third-round pick for Travis Hamonic.

OMAR: And man, like that's what shocked me, is that so they unloaded the entire contract, like $3 million gone, just for a pick. And then like-- and rightfully so, man. Like the Suns gone meme hard, because it's-- like that's brutal.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Here, Dorian is trying to tell fans, yo, give this man a chance.

OMAR: Nah.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: All right, bro. Prove us wrong.

OMAR: No kidding. Geez.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: All right, Omar, you want to tell us about the Leafs and Mark Giordano? Congratulations.

OMAR: Thanks. Yeah, I mean the goal for heading into the deadline was don't give up the first round pick and don't give up any top prospects. And I think that was done pretty well. And Giordano will definitely help in some regards. I think a lot of Leafs fans overall, I think it's there kind of along the lines of what you're seeing in Edmonton, is I think a lot of people expected an addition in goaltending.

Jack Campbell's hurt. Petr Mrazek can't stop a beach ball right now. Right now, it's been up to Eric Kallgren. And even--

JULIAN MCKENZIE: What about Harri Sateri? I thought he was supposed to be a Leaf.

OMAR: Bro, listen to me, OK? Man, like--

JULIAN MCKENZIE: You mean he's not a Leaf? Did someone take him off waivers?

OMAR: Yo I'm not going to say that Harri Sateri was going to like be a savior or anything, but like--

JULIAN MCKENZIE: He's going to help them win that Stanley Cup, man. He was going to do big things.

OMAR: I don't know.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Harri Sateri played nine NHL games. He was the answer. Man, the Leafs were really going to miss him, man. Really, they're going to miss him. I mean, just the-- can you imagine a Leafs team with Harri Sateri in goal, and number one center Adam Brooks? Man, those two players, they really would have put the Leafs over the top.

OMAR: OK, no. I'm not going to stand here and say that like Harri Sateri was going to be like Jordan Binnington, and like you be on to a Stanley Cup or anything. However, it is kind of getting a little frustrating that the Leafs keep losing players off waivers. Like, I'm not trying to meme or anything, even Kyle Dubas said like in the media availability that like there is a trend.

But whatever, they're not-- they're not there anymore. That's it. I think-- so I think moving forward, I guess it would be interesting to see how the team plays. I personally haven't been on the get a goaltender train. I've always been if you improve the defense, that improves the goaltending, and that makes the team better overall.

Last year in the playoffs, we didn't lose the series because of goaltending. We lost the series because the stars weren't able to do anything. So I think if the stars remember what took place, and they have that killer instinct, and I think Matthews and Marner in particular have gotten better this year, which is insane to say. I think if you add Giordano, that kind of helps solidify the defense corps a little bit.

I think that helps Jack Campbell, so he doesn't have to make all these crazy saves. Maybe that might also help Petr Mrazek, give him-- maybe give him an opportunity to kind of redeem himself a little bit. Or maybe Eric Kallgren ends up being that kind of crazy Binnington-like story. Not Binnington specifically, because, you know, things are going to offer him right now.

But just as far as like a random goalie that kind of comes up and gives the team support. So personally, I feel good about the team, post-deadline. I guess we'll have to wait and see.

SAM CHANG: I'm with Omar. I think that's the really interesting thing for me right now is do you need to have an elite goaltender? Because if you look at the two teams who I think a lot of people say on paper are amongst the best, it's got to be the Leafs and the Avs. And the one thing the Avs haven't had for years is an elite goaltender.

And that's what everyone said when they acquired Kemper. They're like, what are you going to do with Darcy Kemper? That's going to be the reason they lose again. And Kemper has been good because that blue line is outrageously good. But I guess we'll see what happens in the playoffs.

OMAR: I've never been so jealous of a blue line in my entire life. Like Colorado is such a disgust-- Joe Sajic is a frickin' god. Like, oh my God. It's such--

SAM CHANG: And then to come out and be like we didn't want to trade our 2023 first round pick, that was the one thing that was never on the table, and he didn't do it. It's like how? How did you build this team?

OMAR: Wild, man.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Just being as good of a GM as he can. But again, if the Colorado Avalanche don't go far-- like I think we're at a point now with this team, with how we've hyped them up, and how good they look, if they don't make the finals, that's a fail. Like, even if they go to the conference final this year, it's a fail. And they don't go beyond that, it's a fail.

OMAR: Yeah, which is wild to say. Yeah, they are in that-- they are in that final-- or final or bust scenario. And this is something we talked about on other episodes, is that like you do expect some changes to take place. Like, Kadri is probably going to go. You know, maybe like a $9 million contract or something like that.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: You know who's going to eventually need more money at some point, too?

OMAR: Nathan MacKinnon.

AVRY LEWIS-MCDOUGALL: Of course he will.

OMAR: Look, $6.3.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: It's the best bargain contract in the league.

OMAR: Stupid. Remember when people-- remember when Max Pedretti was like making for 4 and 1/2?

JULIAN MCKENZIE: I remember those years.

OMAR: Man, this is like that times infinity. It's unbelievable. Unbelievable. But yeah, to your point, that's not going to-- that's not going to last forever. Like, once his deal is up, you probably aren't expecting to make like what 12.5, maybe? 13?

So it's like yeah, like this is your opportunity. And I think a lot of teams are really seeing that. Like Colorado's doing that. I think Florida, which even though Florida is kind of in Leaf land, you know, not winning a playoff series, I think it's actually pretty surprising how they've gone all the way in for this. So, I'm actually interested to see how they do, too.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Yeah, they don't have first round picks for the three seasons.

OMAR: Until 2025, man.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: It's--

OMAR: Holy--

JULIAN MCKENZIE: They are as all in. And you know who's also going to be due for some money in a couple of years? Hart Trophy candidate Jonathan Huberdeau. That window could be three years, it could be as low as two, considering how soon that contract will expire. And if he comes anywhere close to a Hart Trophy, even this year, that man is going to want some money.

Allen Walsh will be calling up-- calling up Bill Zito being like hey, pay the man. Don't read, Dom, this isn't too much. Again, just poking fun at the Buddy. But just pay Jonathan Huberdeau. Is there a trade? I know Avery kind of mentioned the fact that the Oilers did not get goaltending. Sam seems to be pretty content with the Canucks. So Omar, was there a move you really wanted the Leafs to do but they didn't do?

OMAR: No, to be honest. Like, everyone will talk about like oh, why didn't the Leafs get like Mark Andre Fleury, but you know, the conversation between Kyle Dubas and Kyle Davidson got leaked on Twitter, to Kyle Dubas's discomfort, and anger, and frustration. So I don't think there would be any talk between Toronto and Chicago for a while. But like, the ask, I think, was like Matthew Knies and like a first.

And like, those are like two things, like no. First round pick, you don't want to do that. And then Matthew Knies is really a player that I think could play like this season. Like, I wouldn't be surprised like after his called this season, like he gets signed.

And Dubas also mentioned that they didn't want to sign, bring on too many NHL players, because they want to free up space for college free agents. So that just tells me that as soon as his season is done, like Matthew Knies is coming over. So people will say oh, why didn't you get Fleury? I think the price just isn't there.

And I think at some point, you just have to trust that your stars will show up. I think sometimes we forget the players we have on the frickin' team. So, it's like you know--

JULIAN MCKENZIE: You guys have Auston Matthews.

OMAR: Right? You know? Bless him.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: The other thing I was going to mention, any thoughts on Kyle Davidson and Dubas having beef? Avry, do you have the tale of the tape? Do you like GMs beefing with each other?

AVRY LEWIS-MCDOUGALL: I love it. And hey, after some 15 years, we didn't get Lowe versus Burke, barn fight time. Get a barn fight. Let's get it, yes. Davidson, Dubas, get the barn going from-- get that barn opened up. Let's get a scrap going. Get some gloves on.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: They don't look like barn dudes to me.

AVRY LEWIS-MCDOUGALL: No?

OMAR: It might just be like, oh, you got an offer sheet? OK.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Yeah, those two look like they might have to keep it to-- I don't know if they play like online, like first person shooters, or like COD or whatever. Like, that's why I feel it has to be. Like, they're not going to go to a barn and be like all right, meet me in Red Deer, we're going to scrap. You know what I'm saying? It doesn't look like that. No disrespect to Kyle and Kyle. But Yeah, GM's beefing. Sam, do you have-- do you have thoughts on GMs beefing?

SAM CHANG: I've got no thoughts on GMs beefing.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: That is totally fine. That is totally fine.