Frederik Andersen’s arrival gave the Edmonton Oilers a much-needed reset in goal, but the numbers from last season suggest the fit may not be as clean as it first looked.
The move made sense on the surface. Edmonton’s goaltending had already burned them in 2025-26, and the team had also traded for Devon Levi of the Buffalo Sabres, giving them both short-term and long-term options if Tristan Jarry stumbled again. Andersen, meanwhile, came in on an inexpensive deal after a massive 13-win playoff run that ended only because of a knee injury in the Stanley Cup Final.
That injury matters now. Andersen’s regular-season line in the Eastern Conference wasn’t especially reassuring: 35 starts, a 16-14-5 record, a .875 save percentage, 849 shots faced and 107 goals allowed. The most troubling part was his work on high-danger chances, where his numbers lagged badly.
There is at least a plausible explanation. If the knee was bothering him, his lateral movement may have been compromised. An offseason of rehab could help, but Andersen is 36, and even at full health he may not look like the version of himself from his peak years.
Jarry’s season offers an interesting comparison. He played 33 games and picked up 18 wins, split evenly between Pittsburgh and Edmonton, with nine for each team.
His .882 save percentage was better than Andersen’s, but his 3.32 goals-against mark was much worse. That gap points to Carolina’s stronger shot suppression helping Andersen’s overall numbers hold up.
One area where Andersen clearly separated himself from Jarry was from distance. Andersen posted a 0.971 mark on shots from the points, essentially shutting down goals from the perimeter. That speaks to strong puck tracking and clean sight lines, even with traffic around the crease.
The split between Pittsburgh and Edmonton also tells its own story. Jarry’s play dropped off sharply after the trade, with an Oilers-only save percentage of .858. He also lost twice as many games on the way to those nine Edmonton wins.
Edmonton’s defense will look different in 2026-27 with a new coach and several notable departures and additions, but if Andersen’s numbers fall in a similar way, the Oilers may have to face an uncomfortable truth: they were part of the problem too. Given what happened last season, that wouldn’t be much of a surprise.
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