Tristan Jarry is about to learn how loud Edmonton gets. Chris Johnston said this week the Oilers goaltending still doesn't add up.
Johnston put it on The Nielson Show. He can't make sense of the crease, and he expects it to be a conversation point in that market all season.
Insiders don't usually hand out that line in September. That's a January take, delivered before a single game has been played.
The numbers don't argue with him. The 31-year-old played 33 games last season and finished with a .882 save percentage.
He sits on a $5,375,000 cap hit. Starter money attached to a year that read like a backup's.
Jarry did post 2 shutouts, so the good nights existed. The floor was the problem, never the ceiling.
Edmonton doesn't do patience. Four rough starts in October and the noise gets louder than anything an insider says on a podcast.
Chris Johnston on The Nielson Show about the #Oilers : “I still can't make sense with the goaltending necessarily. I believe that's going to be a conversation point throughout the season in the market. Certainly, it doesn't help that Frederik Andersen isn't going to be available for some time here to start the year, but it's still a question mark […]
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Edmonton's goaltending situation makes no sense to Chris Johnston
Andersen is day to day and expected out until at least October 20. The depth option is gone before the schedule even opens.
He is 36 and carries a $2,750,000 cap hit. Cheap insurance helps nobody when it isn't in the building.
The forward group has holes too. Matthew Savoie is dealing with an undisclosed issue and Mattias Janmark-Nylen is questionable for the start of the season.
Mike Babcock took the bench job on June 23. He inherited this crease, and no coach talks his way out of a save percentage.
The Oilers finished 41-30-11 last season and took second in the Pacific. Close enough to matter, never close enough to relax.
They gave up 269 goals getting there. That total doesn't drop because a new voice runs the room.
Scoring was never the file here. Connor McDavid put up 138 points across 82 games.
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Evan Bouchard added 95 points and a +25 from the blue line. Nobody in that room is asking for more offence.
They went 22-14-5 at home. A building that loud deserves better than a coin flip behind the defence.
So what does April look like? Running a contender on this goaltending is like packing for a month on the road with one clean shirt.
Stan Bowman can sit tight and hope the market hands him a better price in December. Johnston just told the whole province that the question isn't going anywhere.
Should Stan Bowman add a starting goaltender before the season opens?
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