The Edmonton Oilers may do something they've never done before with a goalie
Photo credit: IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
The Edmonton Oilers have drafted 11 European goalies. Ten never played an NHL game, and the reason has less to do with scouting than with ice time.
David Staples of the Edmonton Journal noted this week that Edmonton has never developed a drafted European goalie into an NHL starter.
The list of near-misses tells you why.
Evgeni Belosheiken got three AHL games, Kristian Antila two, Frans Tuohimaa four and Ilya Konovalov 17. None of them were handed a real professional workload in North America.
Only Jussi Markkanen made a mark, and he arrived as a 26-year-old free-agent signing rather than a developed prospect.
The bottleneck is in Bakersfield, not Europe
Samuel Jonsson won HockeyAllsvenskan goalie of the year honours in 2024-25, then spent all of last season in the ECHL with Fort Wayne. He was an ECHL All-Star who still could not pry open a job in Bakersfield.
That is the same trap the previous ten fell into. Edmonton keeps adding goalies faster than its two farm clubs can start them.
The squeeze tightens this season.
Stan Bowman has three NHL goalies signed in Tristan Jarry, Frederik Andersen and Devon Levi, which pushes Jonsson, Connor Ungar and Nathaniel Day toward the same minor-league crease.
Why leaving Salonen in Finland is the smart play
Daniel Salonen, taken 191st overall in 2025, split Lukko Rauma's net with former NHL goalie Antti Raanta last season and matched him closely in games and save percentage. Edmonton holds his rights until June 2029.
Eemil Vinni's rights run through June 2028, and his .884 save percentage across 17 Mestis games says he needs starts, not a plane ticket.
European draft rules hand teams four years of exclusive negotiating rights, and that window is the real asset here. Forty Liiga starts develop a 20-year-old goalie, and twenty ECHL starts do not.
Mike Babcock's three-goalie rotation solves this season in Edmonton.
Whether Bowman resists bringing the Finns over early decides the next one.
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