Could the Oilers look to fix their goaltending woes through the waiver wire?
On Sunday afternoon, the Philadelphia Flyers placed goaltender Felix Sandstrom on waivers. The 26-year-old will be a free agent after the 2023-24 season and carries a cap hit of $775,000, which is perfect for Edmonton.
Digging a little bit deeper into Sandstrom, he was drafted in the 2015 draft with the 70th overall pick. He didn’t come to the United States until 2018-19, in which he started one game for Philadelphia’s American Hockey League team. The next season was his first full season in the US, where he posted an .885 save percentage in 25 games with the Flyers’ ECHL team.
His first real taste of American Hockey League action was in 2021-22, where he posted a .902 save percentage and a 2.89 goals-against average in 44 games played. Before this season, he had only played 13 games in the AHL.
Sandstrom has also played 25 games in the NHL, posting an .887 save percentage and a 3.62 goals-against average. He was Philadelphia’s main backup netminder in 2022-23, posting a pretty bad .880 save percentage and 3.23 goals-against average in 20 games.
The Swedish netminder has only played two games this season in any league, posting an .857 save percentage and a 3.68 goals-against average in two games with Philadelphia’s American Hockey League team.
It doesn’t seem as if Sandstr0m would be an upgrade over Calvin Pickard, who has some legitimate NHL experience. Furthermore, it appears Edmonton is looking in the trade market, more specifically scouting Montreal’s three netminders. While Sandstrom would be a nice depth addition to have in the American Hockey League for some teams, there isn’t a fit for Edmonton in this regard, as Jack Campbell and Olivier Rodrigue get most of the starts.
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