Insiders Confirm: Massive addition about to flip everything upside down

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Jonathan Ouimet
May 24, 2026  (2:08)

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The Edmonton Oilers' crease is in full crisis mode, and the front office is reportedly already shopping for the fix.

Insiders are now linking the Oilers to Buffalo Sabres goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen as a real target heading into the off-season.

Tristan Jarry was the experiment that didn't take. 23 goals allowed across six games against the Anaheim Ducks in the first round. The series ended 4-2.

That math sits at almost four goals against per game in a series Edmonton was favored to win.

Jarry's regular season told the same story. A 0.882 save percentage across 33 starts on a $5.375 million cap hit. The Oilers can't keep spending that money on those numbers.

GM Stan Bowman has limited options behind Jarry on the depth chart. Connor Ingram finished at a 0.898 save percentage. Calvin Pickard sat at 0.870 across 16 games.

Luukkonen just wrapped a 35-start campaign with a 0.908 save percentage and 20 wins. He's 27. Right in the prime window for a starting goaltender.

His cap hit lands at $4.75 million. Manageable for a Cup contender, especially one trying to stretch every dollar around Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl.

Buffalo's crease is genuinely crowded. Alex Lyon posted a 0.906 across 36 games at $1.5 million. GM Jarmo Kekalainen has been clear about being aggressive in restructuring his depth chart.

Trading a starting goaltender from a team that just finished 4th overall at 50-23-9 isn't simple. But Kekalainen has shown he'll move pieces.

Is Luukkonen the answer that finally unlocks an Edmonton playoff run? Or is he just another reset on a position the Oilers haven't solved in years?

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Edmonton finished 41-30-11 with 93 points, 14th overall and 2nd in their division. Good enough to make the playoffs. Not good enough to win a series this spring.

The Oilers also still need to land a head coach after their off-season shakeup. Replacing the bench voice and the starting goaltender in the same summer is heavy lifting.

McDavid's window doesn't pause for a rebuild in net. Bowman knows it. The clock keeps ticking.

Previously

Canucks trade with a Western rival is heating up and the return is impossible to ignore

Ovechkin just made the Capitals choose: this move, or he's done

A reporter second-guessed Martin St-Louis and instantly regretted it

POLL

52 MINUTES AGO   |   20 ANSWERS Insiders Confirm: Massive addition about to flip everything upside down Should the Oilers trade for Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen this off-season ?

▢    Yes

▢    No

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