The Edmonton Oilers have found their back up goaltender: Jonas Gustavsson signed with the Oilers for one year. 800 thousand for the one year.
Gustavsson posted 11 wins 9 losses 1 Overtime loss, a 2.72 GAA and a 0.908 save percentage last season with the Boston Bruins.
Twitter Reaction
Of the 60 goalies to play at least 2,500 minutes at 5v5 since 2012, Gustavsson ranks 54th with a 0.914 SV%. https://t.co/EgMqws2n9u
— Jonathan Willis (@JonathanWillis) July 1, 2016
Gustavsson will push Brossoit into having to flat out win the backup job, good signing.
— Ryan Rishaug (@TSNRyanRishaug) July 1, 2016
800k for Gustavsson
— Ryan Rishaug (@TSNRyanRishaug) July 1, 2016
Jonas Gustavsson signs as #Oilers back-up goaltender. I think that is "as good as they need". Brossoit probably 100% ready by January.
— Kurt Leavins (@KurtLeavins) July 1, 2016
Ok, scratch that. Oilers are 1 RH shot defenceman from being a decent team on paper. Welcome, Jonas Gustavsson! #Monster
— X – Ztacy Arbone (@ztacy1) July 1, 2016
My Take
Gustavsson is famous for coming over from Sweden and signing with the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Monster was seen as the next big goaltender in Toronto…..but never panned out. Gustavsson is now a career backup goalie and has had a stop in Detroit prior to joining the Boston Bruins.
Unlike the Lucic signing, I am far less enthused with this pick up.
Gustavsson has been a mediocre goaltender throughout his career. He is comparable to last year’s pick up, Anders Nilsson. Not once has Gustavsson has posted a save percentage north of 0.915. His career high was 0.911 back in Detroit.
This is a battle of backups between Gustavsson and Laurent Brossoit. To be honest, I would have rather jumped for Chad Johnson or Jonas Enroth who both have posted far superior numbers compared to the Swedish Monster. Al Montoya was also available, but he signed with the Montreal Canadiens. Chad Johnson signed with Calgary, for the same amount of term, but at 1.7 million.
Gustavsson does live up to his name: he is a massive goaltender at 6’4 and 201 pounds.
Gustavsson has posted mediocre numbers throughout his career and while he did play with a bad Toronto team, it’s hard to get worked up for this signing. I felt that Chiarelli could have picked up a far better goaltender, compared to this career back up.
Gustavsson is not a goaltender of the future as he is 31 years old. He could start with the Edmonton Oilers, but the job is not a guarantee. I would rather see Brossoit behind Cam Talbot than Gustavsson, but who knows. It will be a battle.
I think we can bank on Cam Talbot having over 60 starts next season.
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