Oilers to lose fourth-round pick in 2018

Al Montoya is making his seventh appearance as a member of the Edmonton Oilers tonight. Why is that significant? Because it means Edmonton had reached the condition on the trade they made with the Montreal Canadiens back in January.

As a result, the Oilers will now give Montreal a fourth-round pick instead of a fifth-round pick in exchange for Montoya.

As the condition states:

Edmonton will have their own first-, second-, third-, fifth-, sixth-, and seventh-round picks in this June’s draft.

In six games so far with the Oilers, Montoya has a .894 save percentage and a 3.15 goals against average. None of him, Cam Talbot, or Laurent Brossoit have been very good this season, but I would suggest that a lot of that comes down to how the team has played in front of them.

Montoya is signed for next season at a cap hit of $1,062,500. If the Oilers can find a better backup goalie, they can bury him in the minors with a tiny cap hit. If not, Montoya is an adequate, veteran backup. That said, based on how much Cam Talbot has been forced to play since joining the Oilers, I bet the team is interested in finding a 1B type goalie who can comfortably play 25 or 30 games in a season.