Insider Says Oilers Could Target Penguins Goalie

The Edmonton Oilers finally made a change in their goaltending coach and appear to be building a whole department rather than just a single person. This is a great first step, but the goalies remain the same in Edmonton, and this is a concern to many.

Stuart Skinner and Calvin Pickard haven't been great, but they have been good enough to help the Oilers get the back-to-back Stanley Cup Finals, whether you think that is because of them or in spite of them. The Oilers missed out on a few potential targets in John Gibson and Joel Hofer and free agency wasn't that good to target anyone and risk overpayment, but it doesn't seem like GM Stan Bowman is going to just sit and wait.

Jeff Marek has said that he wonders about someone like Tristan Jarry. He makes note that it would certainly take some retention on the Pittsburgh Penguins' side of things. Now that the Penguins acquired Arturs Silovs from the Vancouver Canucks in a one-sided trade and the direction of the team is headed much younger, it makes sense to move on from Jarry, who is in need of a change in scenery.

Based on Jarry's career numbers, he is an upgrade to both Skinner and Pickard. Last season the Penguins' starter posted a 3.12 GAA, .892 SV%, two shutouts, and a .486 quality start %. Those are all the worst of his career. Considering he has a career 2.70 GAA and .912 SV% excluding last season, I see 2024-25 as an outlier on a bad Penguins team.

One stat that really stands out to me in a good way for Jarry is his consistently high QS%. Other than last season, the lowest in his career has been .574. Every other season has been above 60%. According to the model, 53% is league average and 60% is good. Both current Oilers goalies struggle with consistency, but their QS% are not bad at all. Their bad games just stand out and it gives the Oilers little chance of winning on those nights.

Jarry has a cap hit of $5.375 million AAV for three more years. The most the Penguins can retain themselves is $2.687 million AAV and I don't see another team stepping in to eat cap space for three years. Pittsburgh has all three retention spots, so that shouldn't be a problem. Pickard would be the goalie going back. His contract situation makes more sense in being a buffer for Silovs and Joel Blomqvist. Skinner would just complicate things and give the Penguins three younger goalies who are NHL-ready.