An established No. 1 goalie is officially available for the Edmonton Oilers and it's Jordan Binnington
Frank Seravalli just lit a match on the Jordan Binnington situation, and Edmonton's name is suddenly hovering over the smoke heading into Monday afternoon.
On the Big Show on May 22, Seravalli said St. Louis "needs to turn things over to Joel Hofer, he's clearly the guy," and added the Blues are "motivated to move Binnington."
That's a public shove from one of the more plugged-in insiders in the business. And it lands on a goalie carrying a $6,000,000 cap hit at age 32.
The numbers explain the urgency. Binnington went 12-19 in 40 starts with a .875 save percentage and one shutout this past season.
Hofer, meanwhile, posted a .909 save percentage with 21 wins and six shutouts in 46 appearances at a $3,400,000 cap hit. The torch isn't being passed. It's already gone.
Doug Armstrong has been around long enough to read his own room. Jim Montgomery's team finished 37-33-12 and 23rd overall, and the crease pecking order isn't a debate anymore.
Why Stan Bowman could actually pick up the phone
Enter Edmonton. Oilers limped to a .882 mark from Tristan Jarry and just .870 from Calvin Pickard, with Connor Ingram the only one clearing .898.
For a team that finished 41-30-11 and 14th overall, that goaltending profile is a flashing red light next to Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl's prime window.
Stan Bowman has been hunting for a starter since the day he took the chair. Binnington, for all his volatility, has a Cup ring and a track record of standing tall when the building gets loud.
Is he the answer in Edmonton? Probably not the clean one. But he's a bigger swing than rolling Jarry and Pickard back in October and praying.
-
The cap math is where it gets ugly. Six million dollars for a .875 goalie is the kind of contract that usually moves with a sweetener attached, not a return.
St. Louis would almost certainly need to retain salary, and Edmonton would need to free up room without gutting the bottom six again. Bowman knows the drill.
There's also pride involved. Binnington isn't the type to hand over his net quietly, and the Blues beat the Oilers 3-2 at home back in November with him in the building.
Hofer is 25 and just earned the job on merit. If St. Louis blinks now, the kid's runway gets shorter, and the locker room reads the message.
Edmonton's offseason just got a name to chew on. Whether Bowman bites is another question entirely.
|
YESTERDAY
MAY 29, 2026
| ||||
| G | A | PTS | ||
| Taylor Hall | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Logan Stankoven | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Jackson Blake | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Seth Jarvis | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Cole Caufield | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Shayne Gostisbehere | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Eric Robinson | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Sebastian Aho | - | 1 | 1 | |
| William Carrier | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Nikolaj Ehlers | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Lane Hutson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Alexander Nikishin | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Andrei Svechnikov | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Frederik Andersen | - | - | - | |
| Josh Anderson | - | - | - | |
| Zachary Bolduc | - | - | - | |
| Alexandre Carrier | - | - | - | |
| Jalen Chatfield | - | - | - | |
| Kirby Dach | - | - | - | |
| Phillip Danault | - | - | - | |
| COMPLETE STATS | ||||