On Oilers Now, host Bob Stauffer said he’s not sure who the back-up will be on the Edmonton Oilers this year, but suggested last year’s main starter, Connor Ingram, may end up with the Ottawa Senators.
Said Stauffer on Tuesday: “I think there’s a chance that Ingram potentially ends up in Ottawa. I have a sneaking suspicion it might be Ottawa.”
goalies
My take
1. Staffer, Edmonton’s Master of Whispers, was careful in stating this, but I nonetheless take it as a strong signal there’s both smoke and fire here. For Stauffer to drop it on his show, it’s substantive.
2. I’m not thrilled the Oilers are moving on from Ingram and keeping around Tristan Jarry, as Ingram out-played Jarry by a wide margin with the Oilers last year. But Jarry was injured early in his time with the Oilers, he was never right after that, and he’s been a OK-to-good goalie in the recent past, just as Ingram was an OK-to-good goalie last year with the Oilers.
When it comes to Ingram, I put a lot of weight in the assessment of Steve Valiquette, the former NHL goalie, studio analyst for MSG New York, and leader of Clear Sight Analytics, who spoke highly of Ingram in late April, saying the goalie was good enough to take the Oilers deep into the playoffs.
aliquette said that before Ingram’s down 2024-25 season when he went into the NHL’s Player Assistance Program for the second time in his career, that Ingram had been one of the NHL’s best goalies. Ingram had a .907 save percentage two years running with Arizona.
“Three years ago, before he went through his stuff, he was one of the top 10 goalies in the league when he was with Arizona at the time. I think that Edmonton recognized the talent there, and what he’s doing is he’s not allowing the bad goal, and he’s not allowing the mid-danger goal more than he should,” Valiquette said.
“He’s not stopping more than he should as far as the high danger, but he’s actually settled at two goals better than league average coming into this playoff. So he’s the 25th ranked goalie in expected goals, but you probably line that up with Antti Niemi winning a Stanley Cup (Chicago, 2010), Adin Hill winning a Stanley Cup (Vegas 2023). You can go through at least four or five examples of teams being able to win with goaltending like that, that doesn’t hurt you. Again, goaltending that hurts you in the playoffs is the low danger goals. Those are the ones that sink the bench — and be better than mid-danger at an average.”
But Jarry has two-years left on his contract at $5.375 million per year. That’s not a killer contract, especially if Jarry rebounds, but I wonder if neither goalie were signed if it would not be Jarry moving on and the Oilers making a move to bring back Ingram.
3. If we are to judge Jarry based on his play with the Oilers alone, then it’s clear that the Oilers need to bring in a top goalie to challenge him for the No. 1 job. But if we’re to judge Jarry over his entire career, he’s the type of slightly above average goalie who has led his team to Stanley Cups in the recent past.
4. That leaves the question: who will be Jarry’s back-up. Will Edmonton trade for “distressed asset Sebastian Cossa,” as the Detroit farm system goalie is known on Oilers Now, or will they make big move, maybe bring in free agent Sergei Bobrovsky on a one-year “stick-it-to-the-Panthers” deal? Or will they go in another direction?
Will you support the Cult of Hockey and the Edmonton Journal? $1 for six months. Let’s do this!At the Cult of Hockey
‘The club needs to be strikingly bold’: Job one for Oilers GM Stan Bowman, NHL insider says
Babcock on the hotseat during introductory news conference
‘That is a plausible scenario’: Darnell Nurse could be back with Edmonton Oilers next year
‘Great work by Bowman’: Hockey world reacts to Connor Murphy signing deal with Edmonton Oilers