Eight.

Eight is the number of goaltenders under contract in the Edmonton Oilers and Bakersfield Condors system, with 2024 second-round draft pick Eemil Vinni signing a one-year AHL contract with the Condors on Wednesday.

Tristan Jarry, Frederik Andersen, and Devon Levi are expected to tend the crease in Edmonton, while the journeyman Matt Tomkins will likely start the year with the Condors, leaving Connor Ungar, Samuel Jonsson, Nathaniel Day, and now Vinni to contend for the remaining spots. It begs the question of where all these players, and Vinni himself, fit in the organization.

The NHL crease is set, with the oft-discussed three-headed goaltending monster the Oilers will run next season, but then it gets messy. Tomkins, 32, got a two-year NHL contract, for some reason, which he’ll play the second year of this season. Ungar is coming off a great season, splitting time between the AHL and ECHL, and the 24-year-old has shown he’s ready for AHL action. Barring any more transactions, Jonsson, Day, and Vinni will now vie for the remaining minutes in the organization.

Looking at what the Condors and Edmonton’s ECHL affiliate, the Fort Wayne Komets, did last year, it’s hard to see where everyone fits in. Starting from the bottom, the Komets only ran two goalies last year: Jonsson and Day, save for the two games Ungar played. If that tracks into this season, that leaves little space.

In Bakersfield, however, four goaltenders played games. Tomkins carried the load with 42 games played, while Ungar played 13, Connor Ingram 11, and Calvin Pickard eight. If the Condors ran a three-goalie system similar to the Oilers, Tomkins, Ungar, and Jonsson would make sense as the trio. Jonsson had a strong season in the ECHL last year, posting a 21-8-2 record across 33 games, posting a .910 save percentage, and a 2.38 goals-against average.

It would free up Day to continue to develop and Vinni to get acclimated to the North American game.

There’s no lack of investment in Vinni from the organization, selecting him with the 64th overall pick. He became the 10th highest-drafted goalie in franchise history, but there isn’t a particularly strong history of the organization drafting and developing goaltenders.

Of the 49 selected, only 15 have played one NHL game, and only five have played more than 100 games: Jussi Markkanen, Stuart Skinner, Devan Dubnyk, Andy Moog and Grant Fuhr. Daryl Reaugh (second round, 42nd overall, 1984), Olivier Rodrigue (second round, 62nd overall, 2018), Jeff Deslauriers (second round, 31st overall, 2002), Dubnyk (first round, 14th overall, 2004), and Fuhr (first round, eighth overall, 1981) are the only goalies in franchise history selected ahead of Vinni to play in the NHL.

Zach Laing is Oilersnation’s managing editor and The Nation Network’s news director. He can be followed on X at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach.laing@bettercollective.com.