From the time he was drafted in 2004, it took Devan Dubnyk the better part of eight years to establish himself, he thought, as the No. 1 goaltender with the Edmonton Oilers. It was a road to The Show that included finishing up his WHL career with the Kamloops Blazers, bouncing around the minor leagues with four different teams and then waiting his turn on the bench once he finally did get to Edmonton. Then, just like that, everything Dubnyk had worked for was gone in what felt like the blink of an eye.
Coming off a shortened 2012-13 season in which Dubnyk had played in 38 of the Oilers 48 games and posted a career-best .920 save-percentage with a team that won just 19 games, the wheels fell off. Coming into the 2013-14 season, Dubnyk was already rattled by news that new GM Craig MacTavish had tried to make a deal with the Vancouver Canucks for Cory Schneider that summer. Dubnyk struggled mightily in his first five games, allowing 22 goals, and never recovered. He was traded to Nashville in January, then, after just two games in Music City, on to Montreal for future considerations and buried in the minors.

Devan Dubnyk

Goalie — shoots L
Born May 4th, 1986 — Regina, SASK
Height 6.06 — Weight 218 [198 cm/99 kg]
Drafted by Edmonton Oilers
Round 1 #14 overall 2004 NHL Entry Draft

BY THE NUMBERS

Season
Age
Tm
GP
GS
W
L
T/O
SV%
GAA
SO
MIN
2009-10
23
EDM
19
16
4
10
2
.889
3.57
0
1075
2010-11
24
EDM
35
33
12
13
8
.916
2.71
2
2061
2011-12
25
EDM
47
42
20
20
3
.914
2.67
2
2653
2012-13
26
EDM
38
37
14
16
6
.920
2.57
2
2101
2013-14
27
TOT
34
31
11
18
3
.891
3.43
2
1802
2013-14
27
EDM
32
29
11
17
2
.894
3.36
2
1678
2013-14
27
NSH
2
2
0
1
1
.850
4.35
0
124
2014-15
28
TOT
58
55
36
14
4
.929
2.07
6
3328
2014-15
28
ARI
19
16
9
5
2
.916
2.72
1
1035
2014-15
28
MIN
39
39
27
9
2
.936
1.78
5
2293
2015-16
29
MIN
67
66
32
26
6
.918
2.33
5
3861
2016-17
30
MIN
65
63
40
19
5
.923
2.25
5
3758
2017-18
31
MIN
57
56
33
15
7
.917
2.57
4
3270
5 yrs
EDM
171
157
61
76
21
.910
2.88
8
9568
4 yrs
MIN
228
224
132
69
20
.922
2.27
19
13182
1 yr
NSH
2
2
0
1
1
.850
4.35
0
124
1 yr
ARI
19
16
9
5
2
.916
2.72
1
1035
Career
420
399
202
151
44
.916
2.54
28
23909

PLAYOFFS

Season
Age
Tm
GS
W
L
T/O
SV%
GAA
SO
MIN
2014-15
28
MIN
10
4
6
0
.908
2.53
1
570
2015-16
29
MIN
6
2
4
0
.877
3.34
0
359
2016-17
30
MIN
5
1
4
0
.925
1.86
1
322
Career
21
7
14
0
.903
2.59
2
1251

WITH THE OILERS

“I didn’t do myself any favours, I wasn’t exactly knocking any pucks down,” Dubnyk said. “I’ll never forget those first four-five games. I remember the days between games, I felt sick. We’d be on the road and I would go to a movie to try and just lose myself for two hours. As soon as the movie was over, I felt sick again. That was a really tough couple of weeks to start the season.” Schneider, of course, had ended up in New Jersey, but that didn’t save Dubnyk with the Oilers struggling yet again.
Despite jettisoning Ralph Krueger for Dallas Eakins during the off-season, the Oilers staggered to a 1-6-1 start. A lot of that was pinned on Dubnyk, and rightfully so. While Dubnyk rebounded somewhat from a miserable start, it didn’t matter. MacTavish sent him to Nashville for Matt Hendricks and went with a crease committee that included Ben Scrivens, Ilya Bryzgalov, Viktor Fasth, Jason LaBarbera and Richard Bachman – none of whom are pushing Dubnyk for Vezina votes these days.

DOWN THE ROAD

Dubnyk wasn’t even sure he’d have an NHL job for the 2014-15 season, but he ended up signing as a free agent with Arizona and dragged his career from the ashes with the help of goaltending coach Sean Burke. “He really started it all for me,” Dubnyk said. “Burkey just gives you confidence without saying anything. You know he thinks you’re good. And if you’re not doing something right, he’s going to tell you. He’s not going to beat around the bush. You know where you stand with him and you know he’s got your back.”
Dubnyk was 9-5-2 with a .916 GAA with the Coyotes when GM Don Maloney shipped him to the Minnesota Wild. In a storyline right out of Hollywood, Dubnyk would start 39 straight games for the Wild and backstop them to a playoff spot. He went from the scrap heap to signing a six-year contract worth $26 million that summer and he hasn’t looked back. Could Dubnyk have turned things around like he has had he been given more time in Edmonton? I don’t think so. What I do know is none of the 11 stoppers who have manned the crease since Dubnyk departed, including Cam Talbot, boast the kind of numbers Dubnyk has had in Minnesota. Alas, no do-overs.
This series of various Top 10 lists will focus on the post-1990 Oilers – the players who haven’t played on a Stanley Cup winner in Edmonton.

Previously in this Series: