https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdLIerfXuZ4
The Oilers went in with a plan this summer, and executed a number of moves in short order. One of those moves was to trade prospect F Liam Coughlin to Chicago for the rights to G Anders Nilsson, who played in the KHL last season.
Coughlin wasn’t likely to be a prospect of any note for Edmonton moving forward, while Nilsson wasn’t going to get much playing time in Chicago behind starter Corey Crawford and veteran Scott Darling. Neither player fit with their old team anymore, so a trade made some sense here.
A Brief History:
Nilsson was drafted by the New York Islanders in the 3rd round of the 2009 NHL entry draft, selected with the 62nd overall pick. Nilsson would play in Sweden for Lulea HF for two more seasons before coming over and joining the Islanders organization for the 2011-12 season.
Nilsson played for three seasons in the organization, splitting time between the AHL and the NHL. That said, his numbers weren’t overly good at either level, and he left for the KHL last summer in hopes of improving his game for an NHL job down the road.
The Islanders traded Nilsson’s rights to Chicago as part of the Nick Leddy trade last fall. Nilsson spent the season with Kazan Ak-Bars of the KHL, returning to North America this summer when he signed a one-year one-way contract with Edmonton in July following the trade.
The Boxcars:
Via HockeyDB, Nilsson posted .936 SV% in 38 games this past season in the KHL. In 2013-14, Nilsson posted below average numbers in North America, sporting a .901 SV% in 29 AHL games and a .896 mark in 19 NHL tilts.
2012-13 saw Nilsson post a .899 SV% in 21 AHL games, while 2011-12 saw him play his best in the NHL, posting a .910 SV% in four NHL tilts to go with a .921 mark in 25 AHL games.
Nilsson’s rookie season was a very solid one in the AHL, and he showed some promise in a small NHL stint, but he has not been good since then in the NHL or the AHL. He’s struggled to reach the .900 mark, and that’s a big problem. Yes, he had a great KHL season last year, but his North American numbers have not been good.
Camp Battle:
Cam Talbot will start for the Edmonton Oilers, no doubt, but the back-up job is still wide open. Ben Scrivens is the favorite, and he’s my pick to win the job. Scrivens posted a terrible .890 Sv% last season, but his career average is around the .905 mark. Still below average, but considerably better than last year’s totals.
Scrivens is a very solid bet to bounce back next season in my mind. Nilsson, on the other hand, is a complete unknown coming off of a good year in Europe. His North American numbers don’t exactly scream bounce back like Scrivens’ do.
What We’ll See:
I think we’ll see Nilsson get a real chance in training camp, but overall I think we see him end up in the AHL with Laurent Brossoit to start. He’ll likely split time with the young Condor to start with, but Brossoit is likely to see the majority of the starts as Edmonton’s goalie of the future.
That said, injuries do occur, and we’ve seen goalies really struggle in Edmonton the last two seasons. I would not be shocked at all if we saw Nilsson get a real chance in the NHL at some point next season. He’ll have to make it count, but he’ll get it somehow.
That said, he’ll really need to be better than his last North American stint. He simply was not good enough for the Islanders those last two years. All in all, that .936 SV% from last season looks good, making this a pretty reasonable bet for Edmonton to make.
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