Mike Babcock already has a major issue to deal with after taking the job

Mike Babcock inherited a lot walking into Edmonton, but nothing bigger than the mess in net.

Heading into the 2026-27 season, the Oilers have three NHL goaltenders on the roster, and only two of them have a track record with real numbers attached.

Tristan Jarry posted an .882 save percentage across 33 games last season. Frederik Andersen worked 35 games and settled in at .874.

Those are not numbers that inspire confidence in a conference that chews up shaky goaltending by December.

Devon Levi is also in the mix, but there is nothing on the stat sheet yet to measure him against his new goalie partners.

Edmonton finished 41-30-11 with 93 points, good for second in the division but 14th overall. That's a middle-of-the-pack finish for a team built to chase a Cup, not just a playoff spot.

The Oilers went 6-2-2 over their final 10 games and rode a one-game win streak into their last outing, a 6-1 win over the Vancouver Canucks.

Babcock inherits a crease with zero certainty attached

Here's the uncomfortable math. Jarry carries a $5,375,000 cap hit. Andersen sits at $2,750,000.

That's real money tied up in two goaltenders who combined for an .878 save percentage across 68 games last year. Not exactly a bargain.

Is Babcock going to trust either of them with a starter's workload right out of the gate? Doesn't look that way yet.

Edmonton went 22-14-5 at home and 19-16-6 on the road last season, splits that suggest the offense bailed out some shaky nights between the pipes.

McDavid and Draisaitl can outscore a lot of problems. They can't outscore a goaltending group that gives up soft ones in the third period of a playoff game.

The bad idea here isn't carrying three arms into camp. It's pretending that competition alone fixes a save percentage problem.

Babcock has never been afraid to bench a goalie who isn't getting it done. That's exactly what could happen once real games start counting.

Whichever way this shakes out, someone in that crease is going to lose reps fast, and it might not be who Edmonton expects.

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