Expected salaries revealed for 3 remaining free agent goalies
Photo credit: USA Today Sports
Of the remaining free-agent goalies still available several months into the market, three in particular could be of interest to the Edmonton Oilers.
In truth, this summer's goalie market has been abysmal, with no real starting goaltenders entering free agency, thus making it difficult for teams like the Oilers to upgrade their net.
Three free-agent goalies that could make a difference in the 2025-26 NHL season
Alexadar Georgiev is 29-years old and is coming off a difficult 2024-25 season with San Jose. Despite taking over the starting job in Colorado, where he won 78 games over his first two-seasons with the team, his game would unravel.
Last year with San Jose, Georgiev only won 7 games over 30 starts, with a sub-par GAA of just under 4.00, and SV% of .875. His last year's cap hit was $3.4M, and will likely dissuade potential suitors from signing him.
James Reimer is 37-years old and had a cap hit of $1M last year. Though he is advanced in age, his 525 games of NHL experience as both a back-up and starting goalie could benefit Edmonton on a 1-year deal.
With Buffalo last season, James finished the year with an 8-2-0 record, and was 10-8-2 over 19 starts, with a 2.90 GAA and .901 SV%. This next season could be his last, and with numbers like these, could just be what the Oilers need.
With Edmonton's Cup-window one-year shorter, having a reliable back-up like James Reimer, whose had excellent performances and knows how to handle the pressures of a long season, could stabilize the goal position.
Ilya Samsonov has only 6-years of NHL experience over 188 starts, and a 118-48-25 record, and 2.77 GAA and .902 SV% over his career. The numbers are appealing quite frankly for an Oilers team looking to make another deep-playoff run.
In 29 starts last year, Ilya was 16-9-4, with a 2.82 GAA ; again, very appealing stats. Samsonov could potentially be signed for $1.5M on a 1-2 year deal, which makes him very affordable at the age of 28.
With only ten-days approximately remaining before the start of Oilers' training camp, the likelihood that Stan Bowman will sign, or invite one of these goalies to camp on a PTO is becoming less and less a reality.
The risk, however, is that should Skinner and/or Pickard underperform next season, these free agent goalies may not still be available, and the Oilers will then be in a conundrum of having to make a trade out of desperation.
| POLL | ||
SEPTEMBRE 9 | 373 ANSWERS Expected salaries revealed for 3 remaining free agent goalies Should Oilers sign one of these goalies as a contingency to Skinner and/or Pickard underperforming next year? | ||
| Alexandar Georgiev | 50 | 13.4 % |
| James Reimer | 26 | 7 % |
| Ilya Samsonov | 156 | 41.8 % |
| none of the above | 141 | 37.8 % |
| List of polls | ||
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