While Edmonton moved quickly to shore up their goaltending position with the addition of Mikko Koskinen on a one-year, $2.5MM deal, Postmedia’s David Staples argues that the Oilers would have been better off waiting and doing something in the regular free agency period instead. More prominent and proven players such as Carter Hutton and Jaroslav Halak signed for similar amounts ($2.75MM each) while others like Petr Mrazek and Robin Lehner came in a fair bit cheaper ($1.5MM apiece) and have logged big workloads as well.
While it’s certainly possible that Koskinen has some legitimate upside, it’s fair to suggest that they could have benefitted from a more proven option like Halak or Hutton. They wouldn’t have taken one-year deals like Koskinen but having that extra insurance with starter Cam Talbot being a pending UFA wouldn’t have hurt. Had the Oilers gone with a cheaper option, it would have freed up some more cap flexibility which could have come in play with RFA defenseman Darnell Nurse instead of forcing them into a bridge deal. We’ll soon see how Koskinen fares but in early hindsight, they may have been better off waiting instead of acting quite quickly to lock him up in May.
More from the West:
- Wild winger Luke Kunin is hoping to skate later this week for the first time since undergoing surgery to repair a torn ACL in early April, reports Dane Mizutani of the Pioneer Press. The 20-year-old sustained the injury back in March but had to wait until the swelling went down before going under the knife. While Kunin is hopeful that he will be ready for training camp, recoveries from ACL tears can often take closer to six months to recover which would put his availability for the start of next season in question. If he does get the green light from team doctors by then, he has a very good chance of cracking Minnesota’s opening night lineup.
- The Jets are expected to elect a one-year arbitration award for defenseman Jacob Trouba if the two sides are unable to come to terms before Friday, notes Postmedia’s Ken Wiebe. This was the expected outcome since a two-year pact would take him to unrestricted free agency. Since it was Trouba who filed, Winnipeg gets to pick the term instead of the other way around.
Koskinen was one of if not the best starter in the KHL. Agreed it’s likely an overpay, but someone would have paid it if they felt his upside outweighs payment. And the Oilers needed someone who can serve games as anytime Talbot was out or useless they had 0 reserve. Look at their backups for the past 5 years. None of them were serviceable.