Should the Edmonton Oilers have acquired Ivan Fedotov?

Shortly before training camps opened, a sneaky little trade was announced. The Columbus Blue Jackets acquired goaltender Ivan Fedotov from the Philadelphia Flyers for a sixth-round draft pick. A small price to pay for a somewhat promising goalie.

On the surface, it appears that once again, goaltenders that we did not expect to be available are being moved around for reasonable prices. The Edmonton Oilers, once again, may have missed an opportunity to upgrade in the crease for cheap. It was one of the noted barriers to making a move in the crease over the offseason, the prices for the available players were unreasonably high.

As training camp is set to get underway, the Oilers are set to roll with Stuart Skinner and Calvin Pickard for a third season. Despite what we thought were lessons learned in the past two that this particular tandem was not quite enough to guide the team to the ultimate prize.

With such a low price to have been paid to acquire Fedotov, should the Oilers have been in on that move? Or was this another one that we can comfortably say was best to leave alone?

How good of a goalie is Ivan Fedotov?

Fedotov was a major late bloomer for his path to the NHL. Originally a seventh-round pick back in 2015, it took him nearly a decade before he finally made his debut in 2023–24. He had spent the rest of his career to that point bouncing around the KHL and VHL in Russia. The result is that Fedotov was an older rookie, debuting at 27-years-old.

A stereotypical big goalie, Fedotov’s 6’7″ frame covers a lot of the net without really even trying. Despite his size, he does possess a fairly high level of athleticism to cover the remainder of the net.

Unfortunately, his early NHL career has not gone particularly well. He saw three games in his debut season, but gave up 10 goals on 53 shots. An .811 save percentage. Still worse than Skinner. Despite that, the Flyers signed him to a two year extension with an AAV of $3.275M, running through last season and this upcoming one.

Fedotov’s 2024–25 season was technically better. But still extremely underwhelming. An .880 save percentage, 3.11 goals against average, and a 6–13–4 record for his efforts. Now, the important note here is that the Flyers were not a good team. But with Moneypuck showing his goals saved above expected per 60 at -0.571 among goalies with 15 or more games played, that places him firmly as the fourth worst goalie in the league.

With these glowing reviews, is it even necessary to continue on and discuss whether or not Fedotov would have been an upgrade on Pickard? Probably not, but there are a few things of note to consider.

Should the Oilers have traded for Ivan Fedotov instead?

Two consecutive seasons now the Oilers have been Stanley Cup contenders. In both of them, notably during the playoff run, the goaltending has been a major, non-stop talking point. Both playoff runs were saved by the backup goalie. Which, on one hand, is a great thing to see. When you’ve got the lineup depth and the players in waiting who can step in and provide a boost like that when called on. But it is not what you want to be dealing with during a lengthy playoff run.

Over the offseason, the front office fielded non-stop questions and comments regarding the goaltending and whether or not they could trust this tandem moving forward. Two offseasons ago, plenty of important goalies moved for reasonable prices. All of which the Oilers, obviously, missed out on during their GM search and transition period. Unfortunately, the goalie market was weak this past offseason and there were few worthwhile moves to be made.

That is one of the main comments from General Manager Stan Bowman on the topic. Not making moves for the sake of making moves. Not overpaying for an okay-ish goalie that won’t actually be an improvement. It may sound like sitting on their hands and being too passive, but with a cap-strapped team in possession of very few tradeable players, picks, and prospects, it is all the team can do with the hand they’ve dealt themselves.

So, when a cheap goalie hits the market, wouldn’t it be wise to make a play on that player to try and fill the goalie position the same way they’ve attempted to fill winger spots for years? Reclamation projects, cheap and underperforming players being put into better situations and benefitting from those boosts? Yes, but with a position and situation like this, the team has to be certain that the player will fit the system.

The optics of aiming for an overpaid, underperforming goalie in Fedotov to be the saviour is a risky move in a season like this. The Oilers know they can be competitive with the tandem they have now. As inconsistent and shaky as they are. The goalie trade at the deadline is a risky move in itself as well, but maybe by the trade deadline there will be a stronger player on the market to target.

All-in-all, the Oilers should not have been involved in the Fedotov trade market. His cap hit alone would have been difficult to fit in the current lineup without some additional tweaking. And when you have a front office that is ready to wait for the right move, whether it be an internal solution (Samuel Jonsson and Nathaniel Day being rising prospects in the system) or an external solution found closer to the deadline, this was not a missed opportunity for the Oilers.