Who could be the next “Dwayne Roloson” for the Edmonton Oilers

The Edmonton Oilers won Game 1 of Round 2 in Las Vegas, winning their fifth game in a row and fifth since making Calvin Pickard the new starter. It’s not easy coming into a series down 2–0 after your partner got shelled the first two games. But Pickard has done it and he’s now helped the Oilers win five consecutive games, with three of them coming on the road.

However, let’s travel back in time 19 years. It’s 2006, and the Oilers make the Stanley Cup Final where they’d ultimately lose to the Carolina Hurricanes in seven games. Often in sports, you hear people talk about “what if.” Things like, what if Leon Draisaitl wasn’t injured during the Stanley Cup Final last season? Or what if Eric Lindros never got injured?

Rollie the goalie in ’06

One, “what if” Oilers fans keep hanging on to is “what if Dwayne Roloson didn’t get hurt in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final in 2006?” Do the Oilers win that series? Because if Roloson doesn’t get hurt, Jussi Markkenen doesn’t have to come in and neither does Ty Conklin. How well Roloson was playing is a big reason the Oilers went as far as they did. Him, and Fernando Pisani who led the league in playoff goals that season with 14.

Ever since that 2006 run, fans realized how important it is to have good goaltending, it’s absolutely essential if you want to make a Cup run. This playoffs since coming in, Pickard hasn’t been drop dead amazing, but he has made the big saves when he’s needed to in order to keep the Oilers high powered offence in games.

Pickard has a .891 save percentage and 2.76 goals against average in six games so far this playoffs. In 2006, Roloson had a .927 save percentage and a 2.33 goals against average. For reference, the highest save percentage in a single playoff run was Jean-Sebastian Giguere in 2003, with the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim. It was .946 in 21 games.

For years, goaltending has been a topic of conversation among the fans when it comes to what the Oilers need and it’s not just because of Stuart Skinner getting pulled after two games. Let’s take an in depth look at the Oilers goaltending on their playoff teams since Dwayne Roloson.

Goalies throughout the McDavid era

It took 11 years, but in the 2016–17 season the Oilers made the playoffs led by a 21-year-old Connor McDavid. Cam Talbot was the starter in the playoffs and he was actually really good. Talbot had a .924 save percentage and a 2.48 goals against average with two shutouts in 13 games. The Oilers lost in the second round to the Anaheim Ducks.

2019–20 was a bit of a unique year, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The NHL season was unfinished due to the lockdown. So, the NHL introduced the best-of-five qualifying round where the Oilers faced off against the Chicago Blackhawks. The starter that year was Mikko Koskinen. He had a .889 save percentage, and a 3.16 goals against average in the qualifying round loss.

Koskinen didn’t play in the playoffs in 2021, Mike Smith did. He had a .912 save percentage and a 2.40 goals against average—a decrease from his stats in the regular season where Smith had a 2.31 goals against and a .923 save percentage. The Oilers were swept by the Winnipeg Jets in the first round.

In 2022, Smith and Koskinen split the net where Koskinen had a .897 save percentage, and a 4.02 goals against average in three games. When Smith took over he had a .913 save percentage and a 3.37 goals against average in the remaining 16 games. The Oilers went on to lose in the Western Conference Final to the Colorado Avalanche.

In 2023, and 2024 it was Stuart Skinner. He had a .883 save percentage and a 3.68 goals against in 2023, in the second round exit at the hands of the Vegas Golden Knights. We all remember what happened last year and Skinner was a little bit better, but still no Roloson.

Skinner had a .901 save percentage and a 2.45 goals against however, so that didn’t really matter given how good McDavid was. He went on a generational run similar to J.S. Geigure in 2003. McDavid is one of six players in NHL history to win the Conn Smythe Trophy for playoff MVP, despite not winning the Stanley Cup. The Oilers had some dark times in the 2010s, only making the playoffs in 2017. However, that era gave them the main pieces of the core in McDavid, Draisaitl, and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.

If this core had a Roloson-esque performance in the playoffs, they likely would’ve won a Stanley Cup by now. In order to go on a cup run teams need good goaltending, the highest save percentage in the playoffs ever is Tim Thomas with a career .933 save percentage. In the Boston Bruins 2011 cup run, Thomas had a .940 save percentage and a 1.98 goals against average, winning him the Conn Smythe Trophy.

With McDavid’s contract expiring next summer, the Oilers are running out of time on his prime along with Draisaitl to get it done. The biggest problem has been goaltending. Fans are wondering who will be the next Dwayne Roloson, will it be Calvin Pickard?