McKenzie on Oilers, Wild, goaltending market

Bob McKenzie was on Edmonton’s TSN 1260 on Friday morning.

On Darren Dreger’s report the Oilers may already be looking for goaltending help:

“Yeah. We’ve kind of assumed all along that with Draisaitl’s minutes diminishing and Arcobello - Nugent-Hopkins playing well, Boyd Gordon being a given there. But in between those two they need help in the middle. The expectation has been that if they need to make an add, that’s where they want to make it.

“But Darren reported yesterday that if they continue to sputter and goaltending continues to be – not horrendous, but questionable – that might be an area they need to bolster in the very short-term, which certainly wasn’t part of the plan when the season began because all of the focus was on centre.

“After last night’s game – obviously I didn’t see it, I was in Peterborough – but I watched the highlights and you can go glass half-full glass, glass half-empty in terms of as you say, the bad start. Not prepared to play the game. But full marks for rallying and coming back. And again, they get a point against an Eastern Conference team. At some point here, not that you can differentiate on the points because they all count, but at some point here they’re going to have to prove their mettle against the teams that they play more frequently and that they’re in competition for to try to move up in the standings and try and do something against the West.”

Related: Friedman: Oilers, Sabres, exploring goaltending market

On if a team who is looking for goaltending help is more likely to address it via trade, or a phone call to a Bryzgalov or Brodeur or someone like that:

“It’s interesting that there’s all these free agent goaltenders kind of hanging out there right now. You’ve got Marty Brodeur. You’ve got Ilya Bryzgalov. You’ve got Tomas Vokoun. I don’t remember a year where that many veteran goaltenders with that much NHL experience are just kind of hanging out there with no jobs, just waiting for the phone to ring. So that’s an option that hasn’t been there as much in the past.

“But if you’re looking for immediate help in net, do you really want to sign a goaltender who hasn’t played a game this season, and that hasn’t played any real action dating back to last year. So that’s a bit of a problem.

“In terms of other goalies that may or may not be available, I’m sure there’s some out there.

“Interesting situation in Minnesota, not that I’m not suggesting that anything is far enough down the track for the Oilers that this is even being discussed, but you’ve got Kuemper and Backstrom right now as the two goalies on the Minnesota Wild, but Josh Harding - after he broke his foot in an off-ice altercation with a teammate in the preseason that got him suspended without pay - is now back practicing with the team. And he hasn’t been reactivated yet, but it’s just a matter of time because at some point here they’ve got to pay him because he’s physically able enough to play games again. So you’ve got to take him off suspension. And I wonder what the Wild’s plan is going to be with him. Of course, Harding’s situation is on another level too because he’s battling Multiple Sclerosis and has done a magnificent job of trying to stay on the right side of that, but it’s interesting that there might be a surplus goaltender available there too.”

Source: TSN 1260/ Transcript: Nichols on Hockey