Are the Oilers Star Gazing?

Like sands through the hourglass, so too are the goalies rumored to be on the Edmonton Oilers radar.

• Cam Talbot
• Eddie Lack
• Jonathan Bernier
• John Gibson
• Robin Lehner
• Craig Anderson
• Kari Lehtonen

WHAT!? Kari Lehtonen? Yup! I’m tossing his name in there as a possible Oilers target for no other reason than I’m tired of hearing those other players’ names and he’s a goalie I feel worth debating.

What we have here in Lehtonen, a goalie who had a better high-danger save percentage than Tuuka Rask, Jimmy Howard, Ben Bishop, and Jonas Hiller. He’s played over 500 games and won nearly half of those on inferior teams. The former 2nd overall pick has a very manageable contract that has only three seasons left on it at $5.9m per season. That would give Laurent Brossoit ample time to simmer in Bakersfield and get a cup of coffee now and then.

I’m sure there’ll be folks that say that $5.9m isn’t a good deal at all but then they’ll say the Oilers should go out and get Antti Niemi who undoubtedly will demand well north of $6m per season and term on the open market this summer.

Now sure he doesn’t have the strongest of groins, last season was one of his worst in terms of traditional statistics, and his career playoff record is appalling, all are valid reasons to shy away or to dig in a get a deal!

He’s a big man standing at 6’4″ and weighing in at 210lbs and when I asked a few Oilers fans about what they wanted to see in a goalie for the Edmonton Oilers they said things like consistency, experienced, an actual no.1 goalie, and a guy that could bail the team out from time to time.

Why would Dallas want to get rid of Lehtonen? I think they feel he isn’t fitting in to head coach Lindy Ruff’s system too well and his mental game isn’t where it should be. So much so that they went out and traded for Ruff’s former netminder in Buffalo, Jhonas Enroth, last season. Not only that but there’s Jack Campbell, Phillipe Desrosiers, and Jussi Rynnas coming up. I can only go so far as to guess that perhaps they feel they could get a similar if not better return from perhaps an Enroth/Neuvirth tandem or something to that effect. Two goalies for the price of their current starter is a pretty good piece of business.

When Kari Lehtonen was traded from Atlanta to Dallas the Thrashers got back Russian defender Ivan Vishnevskiy and a 4th rounder that turned out to be Ivan Telegin… Neither panned out. I have to wonder about the kind of return that Lehtonen would get given his contract and recent struggles. He is a no.1 goalie and those are tough to come by without sacrificing quite a bit. I look at Dallas’ team and think that they’re falling behind on the blueline and it just so happens that the Oilers have quite a bit of talent in that area brewing about in the AHL.

So what would you say to Lehtonen and Trevor Daley for Justin Schultz, Anton Lander and a 2015 3rd round pick? Too much? Not enough?

I just really feel that the team is too young and needs more veteran leadership for the bluechippers coming through the pipeline. And would signing a veteran center who’s defensively responsible for the 3rd line be a terrible idea? I mean who do the Oilers value more? Bogdan Yakimov or Anton Lander? Recent comments from Peter Chiarelli when asked about his draft philosophy on Oilers Now tell me size and skill are a priority.

That’s all for now. Thanks for reading and if you agree or disagree with my sentiments, share the post and comment below!

Thanks for reading!

Take Care!