Edmonton Oilers Goalie Leaving NHL For Swiss League

In some not so surprising news that we've been tracking for several weeks, goaltender Mikko Koskinen is leaving the Edmonton Oilers and the NHL entirely for that matter, and has signed a two-year deal with Lugano of the Switzerland National League.

Koskinen is a native of Finland and many believed he'd head back overseas once his NHL contract concluded. The soon-to-be 34-year-old appeared in 45 regular season games with the Oilers this season and recorded a 27-12-4 record with a .903 save percentage. He went on to play in three Stanley Cup Playoff games, going 0-2 and allowing six goals on only 58 total shots.

Mikko Koskinen is officially heading to Switzerland. https://t.co/p5OoqsW67h
— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) June 13, 2022

Koskinen was set to become an unrestricted free agent on July 13 and now takes his name out of consideration. He ended up in Edmonton after a very generous Peter Chiarelli gave him a three-year contract worth $4.5 million per season after just 27 games with the team. He'd go on to a 25-21-6 record that season with a .906 Sv.%.

As for what's next for the Oilers from there, Mike Smith may retire and the team has provided him a deadline of July 1 to inform management what his intentions are. After not acquiring an elite netminder before the trade deadline, expect to see general manager Ken Holland finally pay up either on the free-agent market or via trade this summer. If he doesn't, there's going to be bigger problems in Edmonton than just your backup heading overseas.