Don’t expect changes in Oilers’ net this season

With Stanley Cup aspirations this season, the Edmonton Oilers could be active ahead of the March 7 NHL trade deadline. However, don’t expect the team to bring in an upgrade between the pipes.

On Wednesday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Frank Seravalli and Tyler Yaremchuk chatted about the Oilers’ salary cap challenges and where else the team could look to upgrade its roster.

Tyler Yaremchuk: There are four games until the trade deadline for the Oilers. Do you think that there is a chance that things get bad enough with the goaltending where general manager Stan Bowman changes his philosophy?

Frank Seravalli: I don’t, and the reason for that is I don’t think they can. For one, I don’t see any true difference makers out there. Two, given that we are still very unsure about the situation with Evander Kane, they might only have one move in them this deadline, and it may not even be for a big splash. It’s dollar in, dollar out if Kane is coming back at some point before the end of the regular season. That means, if you’re trying to improve your team, you’re trading pieces off of your team because that’s what you’re forced to do cap-wise. Where would goaltending stand on that priority list? What would it be for you? You watch this team more closely than I do.

Tyler Yaremchuk: I wrote a piece today at OilersNation.com and I agree that I don’t think that a goalie is out there. John Gibson is too expensive. There is no guarantee that Karel Vejmelka is even available. But one thing that is out there is a better defenseman. To me, that is where you have to go. The John Klingberg experiment, it’s not working. It’s only seven games in and you can sit there and say, ‘Well, he’s knocking off the rust. Maybe in 10 or 15 games, he’s going to be better.’ That’s not a risk you can take as a Stanley Cup contender. You can’t just cross your fingers and go, ‘Boy, I hope John Klingberg is a good enough top-four option.’ If I am in charge in Edmonton, it’s a top-four defenseman. You pay whatever price it is to go get it. If it involves moving out Klingberg or one of the forwards who is making a bit too much money and has been disappointing this year, you have to do it. There is no guarantee that the goalie you bring in solves a problem, but there is pretty much a guarantee that whatever defenseman you bring in is better than Troy Stecher or John Klingberg.

You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode here: