Player Discussion Mikko Koskinen

[Bryanbryoil]

So I see that it was mentioned that he has a NMC on his 1 year deal. That is not very common I would think. Chia and co. must be very confident in him to give him such a deal. IMO it's too early to say that it's a good or bad signing, but we have clearly doubled down on him.

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[SK13]

I do wonder if the NMC was the compromise that got Koskinen in at 1 year instead of 2. Remember that the initial reports in late April were that he was about to a sign a 2 year deal.

In fairness to Chiarelli, he did say yesterday on TSN 1260 that they had an understanding that Koskinen would go down if it was deemed necessary. But as his games have each gotten less bad in preseason, his practices have gotten much stronger.

 

[Morpheus]

Another great story line to watch unfold this season, among many.
Will be an exciting season.
I for one will give Koskinen a chance. At least a couple starts before I begin to worry.
It would be really awsome if he did play well. We will see soon enough.

 

[ThreeOfAPerfectPair]

So I see that it was mentioned that he has a NMC on his 1 year deal. That is not very common I would think.

It's pretty rare among goalies, Koskinen is in with good company. Maybe this is Chia trying to set a trend in the league for a new norm among backups.

 

[Took a pill in Sbisa]

It's pretty rare among goalies, Koskinen is in with good company. Maybe this is Chia trying to set a trend in the league for a new norm among backups.

This is Chia's version of the Nikitin contract.

 

[Belieber]

I still can't believe this signing, even if he turns it around and plays well in his roll its a horrible overpayment.

 

[Bryanbryoil]

This is Chia's version of the Nikitin contract.

A little early to be saying that IMO and we didn't sign Nikitin to a 1 year deal.

 

[Jumptheshark]

Him having a no movement clause causes me not to remain positive about chia pet doing the jib right

 

[Nordiques1979]

Seeing his preseason numbers, it doesn't look good...

 

[LaGu]

Ah Nikitin...
$9M for 53 games (not well) played, those were the days.

TBH I had high hopes about him at the time, what a misstake.

 

[Ritchie Valens]

Seeing his preseason numbers, it doesn't look good...

His numbers don't necessarily paint the whole picture. He allowed 5 goals on 20-ish shots on net (I don't recall the exact number) against Winnipeg, which really inflated the GAA and crippled the save percentage stat lines; however, four of the five goals would not likely have been stopped by any other NHL goalies either. The other goal was a 2 on 1 that he over committed to the puck carrier giving the eventual scorer an empty net. Factor in the Oilers sent a squad mainly of prospects against veteran laden Jets squad, he faced some high quality shooters.

I missed about half of the game against Arizona the other night but from the bit I did see and posters commenting in the GDT, he played quite well. Once he gets settled in and adjusted to the NHL game and rink, I think he'll be fine the way he has been progressing.

 

[LaGu]

Seeing his preseason numbers, it doesn't look good...

If we're looking at stats 93.1 SV% with 29 SA and 3rd star of the game in last game looks pretty good to me.

Did he start off bad? Of course he did, which he himself along with everyone else already acknowledged. The question is how he progresses, and so far it looks pretty decent since he's been improving game by game. I'd say that progression like this is not very uncommon in a pre-season, some players need to find their game, and luckily there is a bit of time for that.

 

[Ritchie Valens]

It's pretty rare among goalies, Koskinen is in with good company. Maybe this is Chia trying to set a trend in the league for a new norm among backups.

Talbot has a modified one as well. I think it's a 10 team clause; I just don't remember if it's 10 teams he'll go to or 10 teams he won't go to.

 

[GameChanger]

If we're looking at stats 93.1 SV% with 29 SA and 3rd star of the game in last game looks pretty good to me.

Did he start off bad? Of course he did, which he himself along with everyone else already acknowledged. The question is how he progresses, and so far it looks pretty decent since he's been improving game by game. I'd say that progression is not very uncommon in a pre-season, some players need to find their game, and luckily there is a bit of time for that.

As you kind of wrote it should not be a big surprise if the very first game was difficult. If we ignore that there's no reason to worry, but on the other hand not too much to get excited either. I still think it's a positive sign he played a fine game already in his 3rd one.

I don't mean to put too much emphasize on this (small sample size), but the fact Koskinen outplayed Talbot in WHC might make Talbot see him as a bigger threat and thus it'll hopefully push him to better performances this season.

 

[McShogun99]

At least Koskinen has improved each game. He’s obviously talented but isn’t ready for NHL duty yet.

 

[PulYou]

As some of You wrote here before, it takes some time for a goaltender (or a player) to get use to a differen size of a rink.

Somebody posted this earlier on another thread, but here is Talbot's view from the same situation (vice versa):

“For a goaltenders it’s all about angles and on the bigger ice that’s one of the tougher things to get used to,” Talbot said. “When I played for Team Canada at the Worlds three years ago, we had our mini camp in Prague on the big ice, and for the first three days I felt like, ‘What am I doing here?’ I had now idea where my net was, it takes a little while to adjust.

Here is the link:

Cam Talbot to start against Calgary Flames, up in the air about Germany

 

[McDNicks17]

I feel like lots of people are living in the past and think $2.5M is a lot for a decent backup goalie.

Koskinen is the 39th highest paid goalie in the league.

Take a look at that list and try to find a better, cheaper option who would have been available. It isn't easy.

 

[Paralyzer]

Even if we gave him a NMC...WHO CARES...its 1 FREAKING year! People here who complain about it being a bad move make it sound like it's a 5 year deal or some stupid shit. I think people need to calm down

 

[McDNicks17]

Even if we gave him a NMC...WHO CARES...its 1 FREAKING year! People here who complain about it being a bad move make it sound like it's a 5 year deal or some stupid ****. I think people need to calm down

Not to mention Chia already said Koskinen would be willing to go down to work on his game if needed.

 

[GMofOilers]

Last game we seen a back up goalie give the Oilers a performance that we haven’t seen in years from a back up.

If Koskinen can maintain that he will be closer to stealing the starter job then he will be looking like a bad signing.

Love this signing.

 

[Ritchie Valens]

I feel like lots of people are living in the past and think $2.5M is a lot for a decent backup goalie.

Koskinen is the 39th highest paid goalie in the league.

Take a look at that list and try to find a better, cheaper option who would have been available. It isn't easy.

I think it's purely the optics of the signing that has so many ready to bring out the torches. $2.5 million for a guy with 4 NHL games under his belt is a pretty big paycheck when guys like Lehtonen are still unemployed (Steve Mason I wouldn't want on a bottom division beer league team). For the record, I'm not advocating Chiarelli should have pursued/signed Lehtonen to the same or less money, I'm just using him as an example. Chiarelli either winds up looking like a miner who unearthed a pretty nice diamond in Koskinen or it goes into the "bad signing" file. It is just for one year though and as I said in TC thread last night, the Oilers goaltending situation is in limbo after this season if Talbot doesn't extend. I could also care less about the NMC based on the term of this deal.

I'm still very optimistic about Koskinen myself. I think I would start Talbot today (which is happening) and then let Koskinen play the 3rd just to face an almost 100% complete NHL lineup and to give him his first little taste of the BoA.

 

[Aerrol]

I'm skeptical of the cost but see no reason to be too pessimistic until he shits the bed in regular season. I like the pedigree at least. As others said before, maybe he can be our Tim Thomas haha.

 

[Ritchie Valens]

Last game we seen a back up goalie give the Oilers a performance that we haven’t seen in years from a back up.

If Koskinen can maintain that he will be closer to stealing the starter job then he will be looking like a bad signing.

Love this signing.

The other night I was trying to come up with the last time the Oilers had a half-decent backup goalie. Markkanen maybe? Essensa? Pokey Reddick? (I kid with Reddick)

 

[GMofOilers]

The other night I was trying to come up with the last time the Oilers had a half-decent backup goalie. Markkanen maybe? Essensa? Pokey Reddick? (I kid with Reddick)

Chia has been hammered on this board for the last 3 years about having no back up.

He got one now, still getting hammered.

 

[Aerrol]

Chia has been hammered on this board for the last 3 years about having no back up.

He got one now, still getting hammered.

Pump the breaks there champ, let's see if Koskinen is actually a quality NHL backup before throwing out the mission accomplished signs.