Edmonton Oilers had 8th best goalies in NHL last year, but ESPN ranks them 5th worst in league. Huh?!

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This in from ESPN’s provocative writer Greg Wyshynski, his ranking of goaltender tandems in the NHL this year, with the Edmonton tandem of Mike Smith and Mikko Koskinen ranked 28th out of 32 teams.

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Said Wyshynski:”Every goaltending expert we spoke with for this ranking remains baffled by the Oilers. Baffled that this duo is back for a third straight season. Baffled that they’re actually not that bad — a .910 team save percentage in the offensively explosive North Division in 2020-21, good for 8th in the league. Baffled at how Smith, now 39 years old, continues to defy the odds with performances like his .923 save percentage and 21-6-2 record last season. But at least one expert thinks the magic is going to run out. ‘I expect a significant regression for them,’ he said.”

My take

1. Do you know what’s truly baffling? How a goalie tandem that ranked 8th in the NHL last year for save percentage is ranked 28th best in the NHL right now.

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2. A number of team’s finished lower than the Oilers at .910 in save percentage last year, made no changes in net, but ESPN now ranks them higher than Mike Smith and Mikko Koskinen. Hmm. That group includes the New York Rangers, which had a .907 save percentage last year.  ESPN has them ranked sixth. Then there’s Montreal, 27th last season with an .896 save percentage, but ranked 12th by ESPN. And Los Angeles, .903 last year, 16th overall in the NHL, but ranked 20th by ESPN.

3. To give Wyshynski credit, he talked to a number of goalie experts in rating and ranking the goalies. He did not just make up his list out of thin air. And there’s also the advanced ages of Smith, 39 this year, and Koskinen, now 33. Maybe both of their games will fall apart all at once. It’s.a definite possibility. But along with finishing 8th in save percentage last year, the Oilers tandem of Smith and Koskinen finished 14th overall in 2019-20, with a .906 save percentage. It’s possible their results could crash, but I don’t think that’s a great bet.

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4. The 28th team in 2019-20 had a .898 save percentage. The 28th team last year was at .895. Again, it’s possible that Smith and Koskinen could utterly crater and end up with an .895 save percentage. Smith certainly defied the odds last year when he came back strong from two iffy seasons and had, arguably, the greatest season a 38-year-old goalie has ever had in the NHL. But the odd thing about goalies on the aging curve is that the ones who are still good at age 38 can often be good for a few years, as seen with Dominik Hasek, who was a strong goalie until age 42, Jaques Plante, good until 43, George Hainsworth, good until 42, Gump Worsley, good until 42, and Martin Brodeur and Ed Belfour, good until 41.

5. The ESPN ranking might upset some Oilers loyalists but it’s actually great news. I suspect it’s the kind of material that will fire up a goalie like Smith. He comes across as proud and competitive. I could see such an insultingly low ranking firing him up a bit. As for Koskinen, he’s in the final year of his NHL contract. If he plays well, he can earn many millions more with a new NHL deal. If he continues to struggle as he did last year, he’ll make far less money in Europe. That’s a huge incentive for him to play well.

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6. It’s also the case that in Ilya Konovalov and Stuart Skinner, the Oilers have two goalies with plenty of pro experience who must might be able to help out this season if either one of Smith or Koskinen crash and burn. Edmonton is better covered in that regard than they’ve been in a number of years.

7. For the game in Winnipeg tonight, Konovalov and Skinner will be in net. Edmonton is going with much more of an AHL-flavoured line-up.

Foegele-McLeod-Kassian

Benson-Marody-Griffith

Esposito-Malone-Sceviour

Safin-Cracknell-Bourgault

Koekkoek-Bouchard

Lagesson-Ceci

Niemelainen-Kesselring

Konovalov Skinner

P.S. This in on Josh Archibald, news that he’s got some health issues outside of his vaccination status. TSN’s Ryan Rishaug reports: “Tippett update on Archibald. Having some health issues and not getting up to speed. Going for more tests. Doctors are doing tests on Archibald to determine what the issue is. He has not tested positive for Covid according to Tippett. He also said that at this point while he’s dealing with these health issues he isn’t able to get vaccinated, but didn’t specify if he planned on doing so.”

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