Stan Bowman knows finding an elite goaltender isn’t easy.
The Edmonton Oilers general manager addressed his team’s goaltending situation Friday, explaining the reality of the market.
“The way the reality of the world is, it’s not like you just go down to the corner and pick up an elite goalie,” Bowman said. “They’re not just waiting for you to join your team, right? How many are there anyways in that group? Then, even if you look at the guys that I think are considered to be elite, some of them have had some tough playoffs. So, there’s no guarantee.”
Edmonton’s goaltending became a talking point throughout the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Oilers used both Stuart Skinner and Calvin Pickard during their postseason run. Their combined .888 save percentage ranked 13th among the 16 playoff teams.
But Bowman sees the bigger picture when it comes to evaluating goalie performance.
“Goaltending’s a strange part of the game,” Bowman said. “On the one hand, it’s kind of simultaneously the most important thing, but also it’s the hardest thing to really understand, because sometimes, the goaltenders who you think are the best, aren’t the best.”
The Oilers actually outplayed several respected goaltenders on their Cup Final run. Edmonton’s netminders were better than their opponents in three of four playoff rounds.
“Just this playoff run is a perfect example. In three of the four rounds, we had better goaltending than our opponent. You look at (Darcy) Kuemper, Adin Hill, and (Jake) Oettinger, our goalies were better than them in each of those series, and I think that’s the reason we went to the final. Then in the final, it flipped.”
The numbers back up Bowman’s assessment. Darcy Kuemper posted a .889 save percentage in the first round. Adin Hill managed .893 in Round 2. Jake Oettinger struggled with a .853 save percentage in the Western Conference Final.
Bowman can’t fully explain why his goalies outperformed those established netminders.
“It’s hard to explain how that happened or why it happened, and I’m not disputing that in the final, (Sergei) Bobrovsky was excellent,” Bowman said. “He made a lot of big saves when we had chances early in games, and we didn’t get the lead. Credit to him, or our players needed to pick the corners better. Like, it’s one of the two.”
Sergei Bobrovsky turned the series around with a .919 save percentage in the Cup Final.
The Oilers will evaluate all positions this offseason. That includes goaltending, but Bowman isn’t committing to changes just yet.
“We’re going to examine not just our goalies, but our whole team, and see if there’s a way to be better prepared next season,” he said. “It could involve the goaltending, it could not.”
