The consistent message from NHL insiders, stated most recently by both Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman and host Bob Stauffer on Oilers Now, is that the Edmonton Oilers are likely going to stand pat the the trading deadline when it comes to goaltending, going with Stuart Skinner and Calvin Pickard.
That message will not be popular with Oilers fans just now. In a Cult of Hockey poll on Twitter X, two thirds of respondents identified a goalie as the major need for the Oilers at the trade deadline.
Edmonton’s need for a new goalie is also top of mind for former NHLer goalie Steve Valliquette, now an analyst for MSG Network covering the New York Rangers, with a specialty for evaluating Grade A shots and goalie play. Valliquette appeared on the Kyper & Bourne podcast today and made a strong argument that Edmonton should see if it can find a way to acquire Team Canada hero Jordan Binnington, the starting goalie of the St. Louis Blues.
Valliquette said he admired Binnington’s ability to play well in big games, such as Canada’s 3-2 win over Team USA at the Four Nations final. “I feel like Jordan Binnington knew that whether it was real or imagined around him, that he was able to create an environment where he felt like it was him against the world. And it brings out the best in him. I think that’s why he’s always trying to pick a fight on the ice. He’s trying to get himself fired up when he’s not. And we know that a long NHL career, it’s very difficult to manufacture that energy sometimes. But you can’t take away from him the fact that he knows how to play under pressure better than any goalie in the NHL right now. And there is some statistical evidence that actually shows this as well, which I think is very neat.”
Binnington had the best save percentage in the NHL last season when the score was tied in a game, Valliquiette said.
“He also was a plus 15, which means in expected goals terms that he saved his team last year when the score was tied 15 more goals than he should have, which was also best in the NHL.”
Valliquette said Binnington found a way to out play the USA’s star goalie Connor Hellebuyck in the championship game. “Hellebuyck sinks into his net, and he backs up when that pressure comes to the net, where Binnington is fighting on his toes and getting to the top of the crease. He threw technique to me out the window and played with passion and emotion. And you know, it was one of the first times — I never gambled, guys. I don’t like it. But I put a lot of money on Canada, because I believed in the Canadian way… Their top guys were just going to dig in a little bit harder. And I believe that like through my core.”
Valliquette said Binnington would be perfect for the Oilers. He noted Stuart Skinner, Calvin Pickard and the Oilers trouble stopping shots when the pucks moving side-to-side, as well as off the rush.
“Put Jordan Binnington into the Edmonton net this year — because we have this tool, analytically, where I can actually put a goalie and know what his strengths are and all of the chances faced by those Edmonton goalies, Skinner and Pickard this year — Binnington would have stopped 17 more goals if he was in Edmonton’s net than Edmonton’s goalies have up until this point in the season.”
My take
1. Valliquette is one of the sharpest analysis of goaltending in the hockey world. He’s an outstanding student of the game. I put a lot of weight in what he has to say.
2. I’m not keen for the Oilers to trade away Stuart Skinner. But I’d like to see a veteran come in and challenge him for the job. Is Binnington that goalie? I would not have guessed it after watching him in the first three games of the Four Nations tournament when he gave up at least one bad goal per game. He was lights out good in the final, but I don’t put overwhelming weight in a single game performance. But I do put weight in Valligquette’s statistical analysis, which says Binnington and the Oilers would have been significantly better off with him in net this year, as opposed to Pickard or Skinner.
At the Cult of Hockey
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