{"id":303892,"date":"2025-11-24T14:22:09","date_gmt":"2025-11-24T14:22:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/303892\/"},"modified":"2025-11-24T14:22:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-24T14:22:09","slug":"upgrades-far-from-guaranteed-in-goalie-trade-market","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/303892\/","title":{"rendered":"Upgrades far from guaranteed in goalie trade market"},"content":{"rendered":"

We\u2019re approaching the one-year anniversary of a couple swaps Edmonton Oilers<\/a> fans might consider a missed opportunity. <\/p>\n

Unfortunately for the Oilers, those moves also represent a bit of an anomaly when it comes impactful in-season goalie trades.<\/p>\n

It was Nov. 30, 2024, when the Colorado Avalanche moved goalie Justus Annunen to the Nashville Predators for Scott Wedgewood. Nine days later, the Avalanche were in the middle of another goalie move, sending \u2014 among other parts \u2014 masked man Alexandar Georgiev to San Jose for puckstopper Mackenzie Blackwood.<\/p>\n

Colorado\u2019s team save percentage on the day it dealt for Wedgewood was .856, dead last in the NHL through over a quarter of the 2024-25 season. Since Dec. 3, 2024, \u2014 the day Wedgewood played his first game for the Avs \u2014 the club has a .909 team save percentage, a number that represents the third-best figure in the NHL over a stretch of 79 games for the club.<\/p>\n

The Oilers, for what it\u2019s worth, are tied for 22nd\u00a0at .889.<\/p>\n

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Goaltending, of course, has been a major subplot in Edmonton for some time now. The team\u2019s inability to get over the Florida Panther-shaped hump \u2014 Saturday night\u2019s win notwithstanding \u2014 often leads to a conversation about whether Stuart Skinner<\/a> and Calvin Pickard<\/a>, bless their hearts, can get this team where it wants to go.<\/p>\n

As it happens, the Oilers aren\u2019t the only Canadian NHL team to experience some goaltending woes of late.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Montreal Canadiens<\/a> \u2014 who surely felt pretty good about their tandem of Samuel Montembeault<\/a> and Jakob Dobes coming into the season \u2014 have seen both guys hit the skids in November. Since this month began, the Canadiens have a league-worst .846 save percentage. Edmonton sits 29th\u00a0at .861.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Crease concerns have been top-of-mind longer in Northern Alberta than Quebec and any Edmonton supporter who\u2019s had Part 1 of the goalie conversation \u2014 \u201cI don\u2019t think our guys are good enough\u201d \u2014 knows full well that Part 2 \u2014 \u201cSo, uh, who can we get?\u201d \u2014 isn\u2019t going to make you feel much better.<\/p>\n

Even in the off-season, when teams make most of their moves, the goalie market is grim. And once the puck drops on a new season, those options don\u2019t really improve.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s what makes Colorado\u2019s moves at this time last year so impressive \u2014 and anomalous.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While some in-season goalie trades since the start of 2021-22 improved a squad\u2019s situation, the wins tend to be modest. Let\u2019s look at a few trades in that timeframe by teams in a somewhat similar situation to Edmonton and Montreal (clubs that are playoff bound \u2014 or hope to be \u2014 that are trying to improve their crease).<\/p>\n

Games played with new club<\/p>\n

As the table above shows, some of the moves made for goalies did pay off \u2014 at least in the regular season.<\/p>\n

Wedgewood did not start a playoff game for either Dallas in 2022 or Colorado in 2025 and Quick didn\u2019t play a minute for Vegas during its 2023 run to the Cup. As for Allen and Kahkonen, their arrival in Jersey wasn\u2019t even enough to get the Devils into the post-season at all.<\/p>\n

The Wild lost in the 2022 first round and Fleury posted a .906 save percentage in five games, while Korpisalo had an .892 save percentage during a six-game, first-round loss to Edmonton in \u201923.<\/p>\n

That leaves Blackwood, who also had an .892 save percentage last spring \u2014 in what marked his first-ever NHL post-season action \u2014 as Colorado lost to Dallas.<\/p>\n

Obviously Colorado is over the moon with how its goalie trades from a year ago worked out, but completely remaking your crease on the fly and finding a new, solid tandem is, to put it lightly, the exception to the rule.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Still, Edmonton could not be in more of a win-now mode and must exhaust every avenue to help the squad. As for the Habs, they\u2019re watching a good start slip away thanks to shoddy netminding. If Dobes \u2014 who was solid on Saturday in a win over the Toronto Maple Leafs \u2014 and Montembeault show any more signs of slipping, outside help may be required.\u00a0<\/p>\n

What\u2019s even be possible for Edmonton, Montreal or any other club looking to level up in goal?<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s examine a few options.<\/p>\n

St. Louis\u2019s tough start to the season has Jordan Binnington\u2019s name in the rumour mill again, just as it was last winter when the Blues were struggling. Binnington came up huge for Canada in the 4 Nations Face-Off final and has the 2019 Cup on his resume, but he\u2019s got some blood on his pads when it comes to the Blues\u2019 bad record this season. <\/p>\n

Among goalies with at least seven games played this season, Binnington ranks 49th\u00a0of 51 goalies in terms of\u00a0Moneypuck\u2019s goals save above expected (minus-6) and his .880 save percentage is upsetting. While this season has been particularly bad, it\u2019s not as though he\u2019s been a Vezina challenger in the past couple years. Since the start of the 2022-23 campaign, Binnington\u2019s save percentage clocks in at .901. That\u2019s not terrible, but 34 goalies who\u2019ve played at least 75 games in that stretch have a better mark.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re shopping for a goalie in the Central Division, the dream scenario might be scraping Juuse Saros out of Nashville. But while the lowly Preds are sure to sell some pieces, Saros seems unlikely to move. If he ever does, the 30-year-old Finn will be calling his own shot thanks to a no-move clause.<\/p>\n

The big Finn has trade protection that kicks in on July 1. The Sabres \u2014 like 15 other teams in the Eastern Conference \u2014 remain the playoff hunt and helped their cause with a couple big home wins on the weekend, both started by UPL.<\/p>\n

Still, if the Sabres don\u2019t have a realistic shot at the post-season come late January, they could see what Luukkonen might fetch. Sportsnet\u2019s Elliotte Friedman \u2014 during the height of the Habs\u2019 goalie drama last week \u2014 even drew a line between Luukkonen and Montreal.<\/p>\n

Is it possible the Rangers \u2014 should they fall out of playoff contention \u2014 would part with pending-UFA Jonathan Quick? The two-time Cup champion with Los Angeles is having a strong final chapter as Igor Shesterkin\u2019s backup and you could hope to catch lighting in a bottle for two months with a guy who turns 40 in January. One thing is for sure: no moment would be too big for the 2012 Conn Smythe Trophy winner.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The reality is the Leafs woke up Monday morning sitting dead last in the Eastern Conference. There\u2019s been plenty of speculation about the kind of trade Toronto can make to shake things up, but what about a move that could help replenish some futures?<\/p>\n

Woll has obviously had trouble staying healthy, but he sports a .910 save percentage in exactly 82 career games. You could see a team bringing him in to be part of a tandem somewhere else and hoping his highs are loftier than their current guy\u2019s. Woll is in Year 1 of a three-year contract that does not offer trade protection right now. With Anthony Stolarz inked for four years after this one and the Buds clearly in some kind of transitional position, maybe Toronto would move Woll for the right return.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Given how limited in-season goalie options tend to be for buyers, the right return just might be out there for the few sellers.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"We\u2019re approaching the one-year anniversary of a couple swaps Edmonton Oilers fans might consider a missed opportunity. Unfortunately…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":303893,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[49,48,448,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-303892","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303892","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=303892"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303892\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/303893"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=303892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=303892"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=303892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}