The NHL is barely out of the gate, and the crease is already doing what it always does: making a mess of everyone’s plans. Goalies remain the league’s wildest variable, the one position where logic gets mugged by randomness before the first week is even over.
That was on full display in the opening two nights. Night one brought a near-shutout duel, with Brandon Bussi losing his clean sheet with five seconds left in overtime while Jacob Markstrom, after a rough season, posted a shutout for Florida. Jeremy Swayman also blanked the Rangers.
Then night two turned the dial even higher. Arturs Silovs opened with a shutout against the Rangers after managing just two shutouts in 38 starts last season and putting up mediocre numbers in Pittsburgh. Year to year, the position can flip in an instant.
The other side of that same coin showed up fast, too. Tristan Jarry got shelled for six goals and finished with a .739 save percentage in a game that nearly sank the Oilers on his own.
Dan Vladar, coming off a five-year extension after a breakout year, was beaten for seven goals against Pittsburgh and ended up at .816. Darcy Kuemper took all eight goals from Colorado and sits last in the league with an 8.08 GAA and a .724 save percentage.
It’s a brutal reminder that goaltending is part skill, part circumstance, and part pure chaos. The numbers can swing wildly in October, but the range we’ve already seen is exactly why the position is so impossible to pin down.
Which makes the Connor Hellebuyck situation stand out even more.
He asked out, and yet he’s still on the market. Teams around the league need stability in net, but nothing has gotten done. Timing is part of it - plenty of clubs are already locked into their cap structure and their crease - but finding a goalie with Hellebuyck’s track record is usually the kind of thing teams break themselves trying to do.
His camp has said he’s open to more destinations than people think, and the goal is simple: he wants to win. The problem has been that the offers haven’t been good enough.
That’s the strange part. A goalie with nearly a decade of elite play would normally have teams lining up.
Instead, he’s still in limbo.
There are questions around his age and his past seasons numbers, but the bigger point is hard to miss: in a league this volatile, you’d think a proven goalie would be impossible to pass up. Instead, the market has stalled.
And that gets to the heart of it. Some goalies just aren’t NHL caliber.
Some take years to settle in. Others go through stretches where everything clicks, then fall right back into the weeds.
Jarry has had strong years in Pittsburgh and was in the middle of an excellent season when Edmonton got him, only for it to unravel. Vladar was excellent last season as a first-time starter, going 29-14-7 with a 2.42 GAA and a .906 save percentage, then earned his big contract.
Now the question is whether that version still holds.
That’s goaltending in the NHL: chaos in a mask. A goalie can be great behind a bad team and still get crushed.
Another can struggle behind a strong team and somehow come out looking respectable. Context matters.
Systems matter. Luck matters.
And only a tiny handful deliver true consistency from year to year.
The old line still fits: “Show me a good coach, and I’ll show you a good goalie.” But the voodoo never really leaves. It’s why the crease can swing from shutout to blowup in a night, why reputations can crack fast, and why even the most reliable names still leave room for doubt.
In Other News...
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Mike Babcock, though, was not interested in celebrating the mood around the arena after the loss. The Oilers coach turned his focus straight to the other end of the ice and made it clear he expected more from his team without the puck, leaving the performance as much a warning as a takeaway for a club that already knows its margin for error can be thin. [Read more 🡒]
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Gretzky also said he hopes McDavid eventually gets the Stanley Cup finish that has so far eluded him, pointing to the way the Oilers captain carries himself and his constant drive to win. For a fan base that lives and dies with McDavids decisions, the timing matters too, because he wont be able to sign another extension until July 1, 2027, leaving plenty of runway for the speculation that always follows a player of his stature. [Read more 🡒]
Oilers Suddenly Face A Bigger Nugent-Hopkins Concern Than Fans Expected
The Oilers forward depth took another hit Monday when Ryan Nugent-Hopkins was placed on injured reserve after a lower-body injury suffered late in practice. The timing adds another layer of concern for Edmonton, which has already been managing a crowded injury list and now has to navigate a stretch without one of its most reliable two-way centers, with the expectation being that the absence could last about two weeks.
Josh Samanski was recalled under emergency conditions to help fill the gap up front, giving the Oilers another temporary option while the lineup stays in flux. Edmonton also has Matt Savoie and Alec Regula on long-term injured reserve with month-to-month timelines, so Nugent-Hopkins status only sharpens the pressure on a depth chart that is already being tested in a hurry. [Read more 🡒]