There were other teams bidding for his services. If the Oilers' offer was less he likely signs somewhere else. Rather than trying to make a trade for or sign a backup who is a known commodity at the NHL level they decided to pay more on a one year deal for a goalie who has been playing well in the KHL and internationally, and who might have what it takes to be a starter in the NHL as a safety net for Talbot. This is not a bad play when your goaltending the previous year was poor for a large stretch of the year.
Sorry for the late reply...
I really like what Koskinen brings to the table and get that he signed with the highest bidder. If he can pan out in the way you described, that's a huge win for the Oilers. I also totally get where the Oilers were coming out on this as their track record with backups has been atrocious. The thing that strikes me as odd is Koskinen signs for $2.5 million but the KHL goalie of the year who also played in more games and was statistically better than Koskinen the past two KHL seasons, signed with Colorado for less than $700 K. The optics of these two deals just don't make any sense to me. My main point was I believe Nurse would likely have signed in the summer if Chiarelli had a bit more money to fall back on and I look at this particular signing as the cause. Anyways, I digress...I don't want to derail the thread by discussing the backups.
Hopefully the announced Morrissey deal gets something done in the next day or two with Nurse and he signs around 3. He's not doing himself or the team any favors missing camp and the first pre-season game is in 24 hours.
