Death, taxes, and talking about Edmonton Oilers goaltending.
They’re three sure things in life as long as hockey’s been a thing in Alberta’s Capital, and the 2025 off-season has been no different. The Oilers, through all of the smoke about them potentially looking to make a move in the crease, have yet to strike the flint.
But the opportunity to do so may have just presented itself to the team.
On Sunday, the Vancouver Canucks and Pittsburgh Penguins swung a trade to send netminder Arturs Silovs to the Steel City in exchange for failed 2021 first-round pick Chase Stillman and a 2027 fourth-round pick.
Silovs, 24, is someone Oilers fans would know well from the 2024 playoffs, when he played in all seven games in the second round for the Canucks. He most recently helped backstop the Abbotsford Canucks to an AHL Calder Cup win, getting named playoff MVP.
The Penguins are taking a chance that his game can continue to develop in a positive direction, while with the Canucks extending both Kevin Lankinen and Thatcher Demko in the last five months, it was clear there was no space for Silovs to progress up the ladder.
Pittsburgh, of course, still has Tristan Jarry as their No. 1 guy, but could this Silovs move shake him loose? Daily Faceoff’s Jeff Marek thinks that could be the case, speculating about where Jarry, whose name has been in the rumour mill for some time, is destined for. While wondering “how much the Pens will have to pay to move him,” he wondered if it’s a deal the Edmonton Oilers could make.
The idea of the Penguins having to pay to move on from Jarry is surely something that would perk the ears of the Oilers. Given the team’s tight salary cap situation — and the fact that Jarry has three-years left on a deal paying him $5.375-million — would the Penguins be willing to retain 50 percent of his cap hit, taking it down to $2.68-million?
Whatever the Oilers would need to send back would likely be a moot point — beyond the team needing to clear minimal cap space by minor reorganizing of the roster — because they could run a cap-compliant 22-man roster picking up Jarry with such retention.
Would Jarry even be a solution to the Oilers’ problems in the crease? They would certainly be buying low on the 30-year-old netminder, who played just 36 games for the Penguins last year, posting a 16-12-6 record, .892 save percentage, a 3.12 goals against average and -7.9 goals saved above average — the latter three numbers being the lowest of his career. He even landed on waivers at one point this season.
But there was a stretch of time where Jarry was one of the better goaltenders in the league. Among 52 goaltenders who played 88 or more games between 2019-20 and 2022-23, half the amount Jarry had over that time, he had the seventh most wins, the 11th best save percentage (.915 percent), the 14th best goals against average (2.62) and the eighth best goals saved above average (40.9). All the while, he had a quality start in 61 percent of his starts, the eighth best mark.
There’s no denying the drop off he had last season, with his numbers in 2023-24 still solid, and it’s not out of the realm of possibility that a change of scenery could be a refresher for him in his career.
A native of Surrey, B.C., Jarry has a connection to Edmonton, playing four years with the Edmonton Oil Kings between 2011-12 and 2014-15, winning the WHL title and Memorial Cup in 2013-14 alongside Curtis Lazar, who the Oilers signed this summer. Jarry would have to want to come to Edmonton, given his 12-team no-trade list, but given the team’s success in making a trip to the Stanley Cup Final in two straight years, it’s hard to imagine many players who wouldn’t want to be a part of what the team is building towards.
