Stan Bowman's massive blunder is haunting Edmonton at the worst time
Jason Gregor dropped the kind of number this morning that should make every Oilers fan flinch.
Stan Bowman has $7.975 million committed to goaltending next season, and the starter slot is empty.
That figure includes Tristan Jarry's $5.375M cap hit and what's left of Jack Campbell's buyout. The math is uglier than the save percentages.
Jarry finished the year with a .882 save percentage in 33 games. For $5.375M, that's not a backup number. It's a problem you pay for twice.
Edmonton closed the regular season at 41-30-11, good for 14th overall and second in the Pacific. The roster is built to win now. The crease wasn't.
Calvin Pickard appeared in 16 games and posted a .870 save percentage. Connor Ingram, on a $1.95M deal, was actually the best of the three at .898.
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Read that again. The cheapest goalie on the depth chart was the most reliable one. That's not a strategy. That's an accident.
Kris Knoblauch is staring at a crease he can't trust
Now Bowman has to find a starter while $7.975M is already spoken for. In a flat-cap world, that's like trying to buy a couch after you've already paid rent on the empty room.
The Oilers went 6-2-2 in their last 10 and finished the year on a 6-1 win over Vancouver. Connor McDavid put up 138 points. Leon Draisaitl added 97 in 65 games.
You don't waste those seasons. And you don't bring back a tandem with a combined sub-.890 save percentage and call it a plan.
Kris Knoblauch ran his bench through every possible rotation in the second half. The eye test said it. The numbers backed it up. Goaltending was the soft underbelly all year.
Bowman's options now? Trade for a starter and eat the existing money. Or hand Jarry the net again and pray he rediscovers the 2022-23 version of himself in Edmonton.
Neither feels like a winning bet. The clock on McDavid's prime doesn't care about cap math.
The Oilers don't need a goalie controversy next October. They need a goalie.
| POLL | ||
MAI 2 | 607 ANSWERS Stan Bowman's massive blunder is haunting Edmonton at the worst time Should Stan Bowman trade for a starting goalie even if it means moving a top-six forward? | ||
| Yes | 521 | 85.8 % |
| No | 86 | 14.2 % |
| LIST OF POLLS | ||
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HIER
16 MAI 2026
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| B | P | PTS | ||
| Rasmus Dahlin | 1 | 4 | 5 | |
| Tage Thompson | 1 | 3 | 4 | |
| Jack Quinn | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
| Zach Benson | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Jake Evans | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Jason Zucker | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Ivan Demidov | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Konsta Helenius | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Zach Metsa | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Arber Xhekaj | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Bowen Byram | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Cole Caufield | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Lane Hutson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Michael Matheson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Ryan McLeod | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Josh Norris | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Mattias Samuelsson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Josh Anderson | - | - | - | |
| Zachary Bolduc | - | - | - | |
| Alexandre Carrier | - | - | - | |
| STATS COMPLÈTES | ||||