The Edmonton Oilers have a struggling goalie duo right now, while the Carolina Hurricanes must adjust without their starter. Adam Proteau examines their options.

If you don’t have good goaltending in the NHL, you don’t have much of anything. And this week, we’re seeing the ramifications for teams that have significant issues in net, particularly with the Carolina Hurricanes and Edmonton Oilers.

On Monday, the Hurricanes brought on journeyman goalie Jaroslav Halak to a professional tryout while announcing veteran netminder Frederik Andersen would be sidelined for some time to address a blood clotting issue. 

Andersen was the Hurricanes’ top goaltender this season, with a 4-1-0 record and 2.87 goals-against average. And Carolina’s other two goalies – backup Antti Raanta (3-1-0, 3.03 GAA, .870 save percentage) and Pyotr Kochetkov (0-3-0, 4.33 GAA, .836 SP) – hardly are inspiring confidence.

In 25 appearances with the New York Rangers last season, Halak posted a 10-9-5 mark, a .903 SP and a 2.72 GAA. Those are numbers Hurricanes management would be happy with right now. And, per PuckPedia, Carolina has more than enough salary cap space ($3.2 million) to accommodate a league-minimum salary for Halak. 

Clearly, Canes GM Don Waddell is not satisfied with what he’s seen from Raanta and Kochetkov, but unless he’s looking for something via a major trade – and that’s not out of the question, particularly when the NHL’s trade deadline approaches – Waddell’s options are limited at the moment.

To wit: Waddell could’ve inquired as to the status of veteran and UFA Brian Elliott, who served as Tampa Bay’s understudy to Andrei Vasilevskiy last season while putting up a 12-8-2 record, 3.40 GAA and .891 SP. But Elliott is the same age as the 38-year-old Halak, so you can see why Carolina chose Halak over Elliott. As a stop-gap measure, Halak is a low-risk gamble, and he’s quickly going to be tested to see if he’s ready for the challenge of playing on a Hurricanes team that much is expected of this year.

But the Canes aren’t the only team with goaltending concerns. The Edmonton Oilers have many issues putting them in seventh place in the Pacific Division, but chief among them is their netminding. 

Veteran Jack Campbell has been awful in his five games this season, amassing a 1-4-0 record, 4.50 GAA and .873 SP, while tandem-mate Stuart Skinner has also generated subpar numbers, including a 1-4-1 mark, 3.99 GAA and .856 SP. Those are ugly numbers, any way you look at them.

Now, Edmonton’s porous defense in front of Campbell and Skinner is also a factor in their goalie woes, but Oilers GM Ken Holland has to be searching for solutions to his team’s struggles between the pipes. The status quo cannot be an option, and whether a trade takes place soon or at the trade deadline – by which point it may be too late to salvage Edmonton’s playoff aspirations – the Oilers need a different look in net.

The free agent market is essentially dry for teams like the Oilers to dip into, but there could be capable goalies put up to be traded. 

We still believe Arizona starting goalie Karel Vejmelka is a candidate to be moved, and at age 27 – and with a team-friendly contract that pays him an average annual salary of $2.725 million through the 2024-25 campaign – he’s a known quantity who could help teams in the short and long terms. There’s also the possibility the Nashville Predators move star goalie Juuse Saros, but that’s a far more remote possibility, especially if the Preds think they’re in the mix for a wild-card berth in the Central Division.

Other goaltenders could be available by the trade deadline, but for now, it’s slim pickings for any team looking to improve in net. The Hurricanes moved quickly to take one of the final pieces off the open market, but now that Halak is no longer available, teams will either need to look at improvement from within or keep trotting out the same two goalies and hope their netminding situation sorts itself out. Hurricanes and Oilers fans have every right to worry, but Carolina and Edmonton brass simply don’t have a wealth of choices right now.

All good teams need solid goaltending, and if they don’t have that, nothing they do offensively will matter. If you can’t keep the puck out of your net, it doesn’t make a difference what you do in front of your opponent’s net.