3 under the radar goalies that could become Edmonton Oilers' next starter

GM Stan Bowman said in his year-end media availability that there's very few elite starting goalies available, and he's right. The only obvious option is Ducks' goalie John Gibson, and there's still concerns there about injury history and performance.

Anton Forsberg is the most readily available goalie as a free agent this offseason who had an above average season last year - and has a history of a larger workload.

In 30 games with the Ottawa Senators last season, Forsberg posted a .901 save percentage, and has far better numbers in goals saved above expected than either Skinner or Pickard.

Forsberg's 32 years old with 190 games of NHL experience, and has had more than a few quality seasons far above .900. As an experienced 1B goalie, Forsberg may be the best free agent fit. The Oilers signed Forsberg once before although he never played for them, so they have seen talent there.

Stan Bowman has history with the Chicago Blackhawks as their former GM, and could be looking at one of his former draft picks in Arvid Soderblom.

The 25 year old Swedish goaltender took a major leap this season, and posted a .898 save percentage in 36 games behind a pourous Blackhawks team. Soderblom also finished the year with positive goals saved above expected numbers - and actually saw an improvement of 17.2 from last season. Also as a tandem option with room to grow, Soderblom could be a trade target.

Finally, another high-risk, high-reward trade target could be Columbus Blue Jackets goaltender Jet Greaves. An undrafted 24 year old, he's only played 20 NHL games in the last two seasons - but he's ranked in the top 10 goalies per minute both years.

Greaves has been behind Elvis Merzlikins and Daniil Tarasov in Columbus. If the Oilers believe in a small sample size and great AHL numbers on Greaves, he may be a trade target that could have a long future.

There's veteran options for the Oilers to add in free agency this year, and one of them may be the goaltender Edmonton needs, but they should explore all avenues to find some value in the goalie position.

Last year's best goalie add of the offseason was the Leafs signing former Oiler Anthony Stolarz. At the time, he was considered to be an aging backup - then became one of the best goalies in the NHL with Toronto.

After multiple seasons with below-average goaltending, the Oilers need to make a change in the crease. It won't be easy, but they need to find the best fit with this team who can step in to play important games if needed.