Could Jordan Binnington solve Oilers’ goaltending woes?

Just when you thought the Edmonton Oilers might be turning a corner, they show just how far they are from doing so.

The team returned to Rogers Place for the National Hockey League’s lone game Tuesday night, only to put up another stinker in front of not just their own fans at home, but the league as a whole. Dallas scored early and often, racking up four first period goals enroute to a 8-3 win, as the Oilers’ goaltending struggles were on full display once again.

Edmonton’s play in front of Stuart Skinner and Calvin Pickard has been far from where it’s needed to be, but once again, neither did much to help the Oilers’ case. Skinner, who started the game, was pulled after allowing a stunning four goals on eight shots in the first period, finished with a .500 save percentage, while Pickard would allow another quadruple of goals for a still awful .818 save percentage.

When pressed by the goaltending woes after the game, Oilers players went to bat for their netminders, with answers ranging from Leon Draisaitl saying, “What are they supposed to do? They’re part of the team too and I’m sure they’d tell you themselves they can be better at times… We’re giving up Grade-A look after Grade-A look. You can’t expect a goalie to stop every single one of them.”

To Connor McDavid, saying, “I really feel like goaltending is a team thing. It’s tough for goalies to look good when the group in front of them is not playing well.”

To Darnell Nurse’s brief answer of, “Goaltending comes down to a full team game. It’s not on one guy.”

But it was this quote from Sportsnet analyst Justin Bourne that might sum it all up best during the second intermission while breaking down some of the goals the Oilers allowed.: “Look, the goaltender is in a tough spot in all of these spots, but goalies are allowed to save hard sports, too.”

The time is nigh. The Oilers need to make a goaltending swap.

Hockey insider Frank Seravalli reported Tuesday that the team was considering doing so coming out of their seven-game road trip, but decided to hold off after players reportedly went to bat for Pickard. The planned move was to bring up Connor Ingram.

Pickard would repay the Oilers with his best performance of the season in their 2-1 OT loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning after seven abysmal starts to begin the season, only to follow it up with another poor relief appearance. The narrative is well out there — Pickard is well-loved in the room, gets along with the players, and is somebody the players apparently don’t want to leave the room.

That’s good and all, but in 2023-24, Jack Campbell was given a shorter leash than Pickard has had in Edmonton this season. But Pickard shouldn’t get the brunt of it all, because it’s not like Skinner has been much better for the team this season.

A Pickard for Ingram swap might not do much of anything, but it could work out just as well as it did when Campbell was swapped for Pickard years ago.

Maybe both goaltenders need to be changed, just like what the Colorado Avalanche did a year ago when their goaltending numbers were in the league’s basement. Now, Scott Wedgewood and MacKenzie have the best combined numbers in the league.

Further on Tuesday, Sportsnet’s Nick Kypreos reported in a trade board article that there could be a trade between the Oilers and St. Louis Blues centred around a swap of Skinner and Jordan Binnington. The problem with that is it’s not as if Binnington, who back stopped Canada to a Gold medal at the 4-Nations Face-Off earlier this year, is a clear cut better option than Skinner is.

Binnigton has posted some of the worst numbers of his career this season, with a 5-5-4 record, a .880 save percentage, a 3.13 goals against average and according to Evolving Hockey, a -7.97 goals saved above expected number that ranks 74th among 75 goaltenders to play a game this season. Never mind his career, those are some of the worst numbers in the league this year — but somehow still better than what the Oilers have right now.

Could Binnington really be the answer with those numbers? It’s hard to say — after all, goaltenders are voodoo. But last year, Wedgewood had a .878 save percentage in five games in Nashville before arriving in Colorado, so who truly knows what could happen.

Maybe Binnington is just what the Oilers need.