November 11, 2021 by Michael Hebert

Edmonton Oilers’ goalie Mike Smith flew home from Boston after suffering a setback to his lower-body injury in practice on Thursday. Smith posted a 2-0-0 record with a 3.08 goals against average and a .920 save percentage in three appearances before going down with an injury on October 19 against the Anaheim Ducks.

Of course, in the NHL, little information is shared when it comes to player injuries. Smith has missed the last eight games and could miss the rest of the November, forcing Mikko Koskinen and Stuart Skinner to carry the load as their goalie tandem. The road trip does include back-to-back games coming tonight and Friday, so you can likely count on Skinner to be back in the net against the Buffalo Sabres.

So, will General Manager Ken Holland attempt to acquire a goalie to give the Oilers the best possible chance to go on a deep playoff run? There are several names that keep coming up, and not surprisingly, they are all on teams near the bottom of the standings that will likely be sellers prior to the trade deadline.

Here are some potential options for the Oilers in goal.

Karel Vejmelka, Arizona Coyotes

Karel Vejmelka is just 10 games into his NHL career, but he’s shown well in a small sample size. Despite playing on a weak Arizona Coyotes squad, Vejmelka’s play has been one of their few bright spots this season. Selected 145th overall by the Nashville Predators in 2015, Vejmelka spent seven seasons in the Czech Extraliga before making his way to North America, but made the Coyotes out of camp and shown promise while Carter Hutton has been out with an injury. Vejmelka is slated to go into the off-season as an RFA. and will likely be a name tossed around at the deadline if he continues to be solid.

Marc-Andre Fleury, Chicago Blackhawks

Marc-Andre Fleury is the defending Vezina Trophy winner with the Vegas Golden Knights, but an off-season that saw him unceremoniously ousted in favour of Robin Lehner. It seemed like a good fit for Fleury and the Chicago Blackhawks, as his new club were hoping for a bounce back year from some of their leadership and a bump on defence from the Seth Jones sign-and-trade. The Blackhawks have not seen the early returns they would have wanted and could become sellers early. Of course, the recent firing of their coaching staff has provided an early adrenaline shot and time will tell if they’re willing to part with Fleury.

Anaheim Ducks, John Gibson

John Gibson is currently backstopping the Anaheim Ducks to a five-game winning streak and is playing arguably some of the best hockey of his career. The Ducks were expected to be a lottery team this year, but have shown they can be competitive night after night early on. If the Ducks falter and decide to part with Gibson, it would take come creativity by Holland to fit his $6.4 million cap hit for an additional four years.

What approach does Holland take?

Out of the three names mentioned above, Gibson is playing the best and is young enough to have a future with the Oilers. Vejmelka would carry some risks, as it’s always difficult to tell with such a small sample size what the future will hold. Still, to have him in your system wouldn’t hurt down the road for an Oilers team that has been lacking consistency between the pipes. Fleury would be enticing given the playoff pedigree that he carries. However, he could regress so quickly in one season without it being largely to due to the defence in front of him.

Any chance Skinner is enough?

There is one other option, and we’re likely going to get a good look at him this month. Skinner has the opportunity right now to turn some heads and make believers out of the fans in Oil Country. Except for one gaff in a 4-2 loss to the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday, Skinner put up a great performance and gave his team a chance to win despite this sluggish start.

Over the next couple of weeks, the goaltender situation is going to be quite clear and for the “I told you so” crowd, they’re waiting to start the hashtags and the Twitter frenzy on how Holland has failed the team in between the pipes.

What are your thoughts?