EDMONTON — Things We (Think We) Know. Series V, Volume II.
In all of our years, we’ve never met a three-goalie system that anybody inside a hockey team liked.
Coaches, goalies, skaters, training and equipment staff… Everyone is happier with two goalies on a hockey team — at practice, at games, on the plane and in the meetings.
“We can give (Andersen) the appropriate rest,” Bowman told Reid Wilkins on Edmonton Sports Talk. “Because we’re going to have a three-goalie system next year.”
Things We (Think We) Know
This is the dumbest thing about goaltending in the 2020’s:
We’ve all come to the realization that (at least) two goalies should roughly split an NHL regular season. Where it was once a 57-25 thing, today it’s closer to 48-36 in the new 84-game regular season.
Only 18 goalies started 50 or more games last season. Ten of those teams missed the playoffs, six others lost in Round 1.
So coaches have learned to favour two goalies, all year long. Then the playoffs start, and those same coaches run one goalie until he crashes out before going to the next guy. Like Rod Brind’Amour did with Andersen and Brandon Bussi, or John Tortorella and Carter Hart.
As for the three-goalie system, that too is evolving.
“I think it’s going to become more common in the coming years,” Bowman said. “Buffalo and Carolina … they both had a lot of success (last season). It’s been uncommon, for sure, in the past. But the way the schedule goes, in the modern game goalies just aren’t playing 60, 70 games a year.”
You need the right characters for the three-goalie play. Edmonton has an oft-injured veteran in Andersen who is OK with 30 starts, a kid in Devon Levi who’s likely happy to stay up in the NHL all season, and a 31-year-old with something to prove in Jarry. Levi and Jarry will be battling for their share of the 54 starts, with Andersen being guaranteed his 30 — or wherever the numbers fall.
“I played 66 games in a row (with Toronto, 2016-18), a couple years in a row. I think those days are probably over for me,” Andersen said in a Zoom call from Denmark Monday. “I’m definitely happy to be part of a good goalie rotation. It’s been a new thing in the NHL. You’ve got to keep it fresh and really get the best out of each other that way.”
Who’s going to be the No. 1? We all know its Andersen they’ll want in net come late April.
“I don’t think there’s a big benefit in anointing one guy as the No. 1 in July. Or even in November,” Bowman said. “You’ve got to win games, and whoever can help you win those games, we’ll figure that out.”
Edmonton has three goalies, eight NHL defencemen, but is a tad light up front. The Oilers could dearly use a right-shot depth centreman, or a top-six winger who could do what Jack Roslovic (21 goals) did last season in Edmonton.
But Bowman currently has just over $5.9 million in cap space. At the trade deadline, that equates to $26.55 million in AAV.
The summer UFA market is picked over. And even if you could find a guy to replicate Roslovic’s pre-playoffs production, he wouldn’t bring the speed that Roslovic brought. Patrick Kane, Vladimir Tarasenko, Anthony Mantha… They aren’t quick, have too many miles, or still require too much salary.
Things We (Think We) Know
Edmonton got Roslovic on Oct. 8 last season, after the UFA market spat him out without a contract. They gave him a one-year, $1.5 million deal and he returned 21 goals and 36 points before predictably cratering in the playoffs, where his PPG is 0.35.
We bet that Bowman will hang around again this season, relatively happy with his roster but willing to poach a similarly positioned player who is willing to sign a one-year deal, with the chance to do what Roslovic did: earn himself a two-year, $8 million contract with Toronto this summer.
But with nearly $6 million in cap space, a new head coach that will demand the players’ attention, and a team that is uber-focused on the regular season after basically sitting it out last season, if Bowman has enough roster to get the Oilers safely to the deadline, why would you spend more money now?
At the March 2026 deadline, if you had $5.9 million in cap space, you could have afforded Nazem Kadri and MacKenzie Weegar. Or Brayden Schenn and John Carlson. Or three, $3 million guys in Nicolas Roy, Scott Laughton and Tyler Myers.
Obviously, you need trade capital to go with your cap space. Edmonton has all but their Round 2 picks in both 2028 and ’29, and a few prospects kicking around.
All of the other contenders are cash-strapped or about to be, and we all know that players become available at the deadline who are never available right now.
At the deadline, cap space is king. Right now, Bowman should be shining up his crown.