The Anaheim Ducks made a clear commitment to goaltender Lukas Dostal this summer.

Less than a month after trading long-time starter John Gibson to the Detroit Red Wings, the Ducks inked Dostal to a five-year contract worth $32.5 million.

Dostal, who turned 25 in June, became a restricted free agent in July and was one of 11 players to file for salary arbitration. Coming off a two-year bridge contract with the Ducks that paid him $812,500 annually, this deal represents a significant raise for the young goaltender.

The Ducks selected Dostal in the third round of the 2018 NHL Draft and he joined their American Hockey League affiliate for the shortened 2021 season after putting up some strong results in Liiga, Finland’s top professional league. The native of Brno, Czechia, posted a .916 save percentage and a 15-9-0 record in his rookie season with the San Diego Gulls.

Dostal made his NHL debut in 2021-22, appearing in four games for the Ducks as an injury call-up. He split the 2022-23 campaign between Anaheim and San Diego, posting a .901 save percentage over 19 games in the NHL and a .912 save percentage over 34 games in the AHL.

The 2023-24 season was the first that Dostal spent entirely in the NHL, as he split Anaheim’s net with Gibson. The veteran made 44 starts and struggled to a .888 save percentage, while the rookie put up a .902 save percentage across 38 starts.

Dostal took over the net as Anaheim’s starting goalie in 2024-25, posting a .903 save percentage along with a 23-23-7 record. Gibson improved his play with less workload, going 11-11-2 with a .911 save percentage, his highest since the 2018-19 season.

Given how things were trending, it was no surprise that the Ducks moved Gibson in the off-season. He raised his value with a solid performance as Dostal’s backup and netted Anaheim a second- and fourth-round pick from the Red Wings in return.

The Edmonton Oilers have a handful of notable players eligible to hit the unrestricted free agent market next summer.

Connor McDavid is the most important one and should be signed to an extension before the beginning of the 2025-26 season. The Oilers could look to lock Jake Walman down to a long-term deal before he can test free agency, and they might also try shorter-term extensions with veteran defenders Mattias Ekholm and Brett Kulak.

And then there’s the goaltending duo of Stuart Skinner and Calvin Pickard. Both are set to become unrestricted free agents next summer, though it’s difficult to say if general manager Stan Bowman wants to invest in either of the goalies he inherited.

Skinner and Pickard have been to the Stanley Cup Final in back-to-back years, but Sergei Bobrovsky and the Florida Panthers were better both times. Much to the frustration of many observers, the Oilers are heading into 2025-26 with the same duo again, but they’ll have a different goalie coach this time around, as the team replaced Dustin Schwartz with Peter Aubry.

It seems unlikely that the Oilers will lock up Skinner any time soon, but that could change if things are going well during the regular season. The Edmonton native is entering the third and final season of a three-year contract worth $2.6 million annually and he’ll surely earn a raise on his next deal.

Selected in the third round of the 2017 NHL Draft, Skinner has a 98-54-14 record and a .906 save percentage in 174 regular-season games with the Oilers, along with a 26-22 record and .893 save percentage in the playoffs. He finished as the runner-up in Calder Trophy voting for the league’s top rookie in 2022-23 and has seen his save percentage decline in two consecutive seasons since.

Though it might not seem like an impressive resume to those who follow the Oilers closely, Skinner’s results in comparison to goalies who have signed contracts in recent years would have him in the range of $5 to $6 million annually.

Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, who was selected in the second round of the same draft as Skinner by the Buffalo Sabres, inked a five-year contract extension worth $4.75 million annually last July. When he signed the deal, he had a 47-41-10 record in the NHL with a .904 save percentage.

Playing for the Sabres and playing for the Oilers are very different things, but Skinner has been much better than Luukkonen at this stage in their careers. It’s the same case with Dostal. Again, consider the quality of the team in front of each goaltender, but Skinner has been the better goalie thus far.

This comparison isn’t to say that Skinner is more talented than Luukkonen or Dostal or that he’s the better goalie to sign to a long-term contract. It’s just to illustrate what teams are willing to pay goalies of a similar age who they believe are going to be their starter for years to come.

Would somebody pay Skinner $5 or $6 million annually on the open market next summer? It’s impossible to say right now, but that’s the ballpark of what it would cost the Oilers to get him to forgo the opportunity to test free agency with a multi-year extension.

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