Edmonton Oilers sign huge new goalie to three-year deal

This in from the Edmonton Oilers: “The Edmonton Oilers announced Saturday they have signed goaltender Nathaniel Day to a three-year entry-level contract. Day (6’4″, 205 lbs) was selected by Edmonton in the sixth round (184th overall) of the 2023 NHL Draft. This past season, the Grimsby, Ontario product saw action in 59 games with the Ontario Hockey League’s Flint Firebirds, sporting a 26-25-2-3 record with a 3.07 GAA, .894 SV% and two shutouts.The 20-year-old was named the Firebirds 2024-25 team MVP after leading all OHL goaltenders in games and minutes played while facing the fourth-most shots and registering the seventh-most wins. Day was named the OHL’s Goaltender of the Week on three separate occasions this season. Last September, he played for the Oilers Rookies at the 2024 Young Stars Classic in Penticton, B.C., and also made his first NHL preseason appearance.”

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My take

1. Flint was a marginal OHL team this year, while Day was at least an average OHL goalie. He had an .894 save percentage in 59 games, with his backup Noah Bender posting as .836 save percentage in 13 games. Little wonder the Firebirds went with Day in so many games.

2. Day had the 15th best save percentage for OHL goalies who played more than 30 games. But it’s safe to say the Firebirds didn’t have the best defensive group in the league, giving heavy minutes to one 16-year-old and two 17-year-olds, with only one drafted d-man  (6th round) on the roster, more evidence that we’re seeing a good goalie on an iffy team situation here.

3. In Cult of Hockey prospect voting last September, Olivier Rodrigue (now filling in for an injured Stuart Skinner) was ranked 8th, Eemil Vinni was ranked 14th, Connor Ungar 21st, Day 27th and Samuel Jonson of Sweden 29th.

4. Rodrigue had a tougher season in Bakersfield, his save percentage dropping from his previous two seasons, but that’s in no small part due to Bakersfield’s defence having much less veteran strength and many injuries. So far as I can tell, Vinni played just nine games in Finland this year, so this looks like a season lost to injury. Ungar was OK in the ECHL but was outplayed by unsigned Brett Brochu, who has crushed it for three games in Bakersfield as Rodrigue’s emergency replacement. One wonders if the Oilers will sign up Brochu, just 22 years of age.

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5. Perhaps the biggest jump in play this year came from 21-year-old Samuel Jonsson, Edmonton’s fifth round pick in the 2022 draft. He had a solid year for Bokfors in the Swedish second pro division. No word yet on whether the Oilers will also sign up Jonsson.

6. For now, when it comes to goalies on pro contracts for next season, the Oilers have Stuart Skinner, Calvin Pickard, Connor Ungar on the final years of Entry Level Contract, Day now starting to ELC, with Rodrigue as an unsigned RFA. I can see room for one or two more goalies on the pro roster here, perhaps Brochu and Jonsson.

At the Cult of Hockey

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