Over the years, the Edmonton Oilers have signed college goalies—Ty Conklin made it to the NHL—and pursued college goalies—Matt O’Connor is a recent example—but the position has been filled (mostly) by trades since the Fuhr-Moog era. It looks like Peter Chiarelli is interested in going the college route again this spring, and the player in question played for Yale. The Yale connection has been a strong one for Edmonton in recent years.

Lyon has posted save percentages of .918, .939 and .936 at Yale—that is an outstanding career. At 23, he would absolutely be in the mix for the AHL starting job next season, and could even see NHL time. Lyon is older than both Laurent Brossoit and Eetu Laurikainen, although they are all pretty much the same age. 

I don’t know the connection (could be agent) to Yale, but the Oilers have been successful in procuring real talent from the university in recent years. Mark Arcobello was signed to an AHL deal in 2010, and parlayed that into an NHL career totaling (so far) 139 games. Andrew Miller—a hero of the Yale program courtesy a massive goal in 2013—also signed here. Miller scored the Overtime winning
goal against UMass Lowell to send Yale to its first ever National
Championship game  (a game they would win, with Miller again scoring). In April of that year, he signed with Edmonton and played in 15 NHL games with the Oilers. Miller is now on loan to the Charlotte Checkers and would appear to be heading out of the organization, but the Yale-Oilers connection remains.

Opportunity. College players are looking for a chance to play in the NHL, along with things like burning off a year of their contract early. Edmonton could probably match all of the required items from any player, but the big advantage is the current depth chart. Without being cruel, it is fairly obvious that the Oilers have an opening in the AHL and an NHL opportunity could be available in short order.

That has value.

It is also true (and I have mentioned this to you before) that college players are very aware of the NHL teams who give opportunities to players coming out of their NCAA careers. So, in a real way, Edmonton’s fast tracking Arcobello, Miller and youngsters like Jordan Oesterle may well give them an advantage in negotiations like the one currently underway with Lyon.

One thing that we should be prepared for: More than two teams involved. Oilers have a shot and that is news.