GOALIE TURNOVER

Laurent Brossoit (shown here in photo by Rob Ferguson, all rights reserved) is the best goaltending prospect in the Oilers system today. The club has several youngsters under contract but we’re likely to see a massive turnover at the position this summer, both at the NHL and minor-league level.

Edmonton has one NHL goalie under contract for next season (Ben Scrivens, $2.3M cap hit) with Viktor Fasth and Richard Bachman both about to become free agents on July 1, 2015. It’s an absolute certainty we’ll see at least one new goalie for the NHL club next season, likely a bona fide No. 1. Edmonton’s goaltending situation hasn’t really been stable since the days of Dwayne Roloson (Nikolai Khabibulin had two seasons of over 40GP but there were injury and performance issues; Devan Dubnyk was trending before the elevator shaft but never did convince Oilers management of his value) and pursuing a solution will be a major story this summer.

Laurent Brossoit is enjoying a strong season with the Barons. His .918SP represents the best number for an Oilers prospect in the AHL since the team moved to Oklahoma territory. Craig MacTavish has suggested the club would like to see Brossoit get a cup of coffee in the NHL before season’s end. If we’re adding up arrows good and bad, Brossoit is clearly on the good side of the prospect ledger.

Tyler Bunz has endured some injury issues during his entry-level deal and there has been no real progress during his minor-league career so far; it’s likely Edmonton will move on from Bunz this summer. The Oilers have little room on their 50-man list for additional goalies, suspect Bunz will join Fasth and Bachman on the goalie scrap heap.

(like Bunz) is an RFA this summer and could be on the outside looking in with the Oilers as well. An .876SP in Bakersfield doesn’t suggest good things are coming his way.

All information on Oilers’ goaltenders: NHLNumbers

Zach Nagelvoort has struggled this season in college. After posting a .929SP in 2013-14 (his draft year) the young man has fallen to .907 and in doing so lost his starting job to Steve Racine. Samu Perhonen—who Edmonton drafted but did not sign—is posting a strong season in Europe and may be starting to turn a corner as a prospect. 

Keven Bouchard started the season in a disastrous fashion but has been posting solid numbers for a few weeks now. He’s a long ranger in terms of prospects.

I think we’re about to see a major shift in goaltending for this organization. Craig MacTavish can use several routes in aid of the goaltending, including:

The current Oilers organization depth chart (Scrivens, Fasth IR, Bachman, Brossoit, Bunz, Tuohimaa, Rimmer—not on 50-man list but playing before injury in the system, Nagelvoort, Bouchard) is about nine deep depending on who you’re counting as part of the organization.

I think it’s completely possible the only men who’ll remain in the fall are Scrivens, Brossoit, Nagelvoort and Bouchard. Many moving parts to the Oilers in goal this summer. It has not been a good year in the net.