Despite Juuse Saros' impeccable resume, he's not the best option for the Edmonton Oilers to target in net.
Despite Juuse Saros' impeccable resume, he's not the best option for the Edmonton Oilers to target in net.
The Edmonton Oilers need to trade for a goalie. Not just any goalie but an elite starting goalie.
There is a lot of talk and rumors about Juuse Saros being the ultimate prize for the Oilers.
Spoiler alert, he's not. While Saros is fantastic, there is one goalie who could be available who's way better: Ilya Sorokin.
Sorokin is Cheaper
Saros has one more year of his $5-million cap hit contract left after 2023-24. Sorokin is in the last year of his $4-million contract.
The catch with Sorokin is that next year his extension kicks in. He will be owed $8.25-million for eight years starting in 2024-25. This is less than ideal, but if enough moves can be made to accommodate the raise in Sorokin's contract - you do it.
Sorokin is Better
A hallmark of an elite starting goalie is consistency. One way to measure that is through quality start percentage (QS%). QS% is the percentage of games in a given year that the goalie had at least the league average save percentage in a game.
For Saros his QS% over the past three seasons before his one are 62.5, 64.2 & 61.1. Conversely, Sorokin in the same time frame posted 69.4, 69.2 & 68.2. It's not a huge difference, but it's enough to make a difference when talking about goalies of this caliber.
Sorokin Will Cost Less to Acquire
Saros is doing okay this season (by his standards) with a 2.96 goals against average (GAA) to go with a .905 save percentage (SV%) and a 4-7-0 record.
Sorokin is having a down year so far as well. With a record of 3-2-3 to compliment his 3.24 GAA and .908 SV%.
With Sorokin having a down year, it might be the best time to propose a trade to Lou Lamoriello. He's cheaper (this year), he's better, and will (probably) cost less to acquire.
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