Tag Archives: Mikko Koskinen

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Around the Oilogosphere – April 24th Edition – Mikko Koskinen, Oilers/Hurricanes Trade Proposal, and Rumblings on the Oilers Coaching Front!

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It looks like the Oilers are going to have some openings in their top 13 as latest reports (unconfirmed) have one of their better penalty-killers heading and one of their more promising youngsters heading to the KHL for next season.

I’m sad to see both players moving on (if the reports are indeed true) but I understand why the club would prefer to. Pakarinen was an excellent foot soldier and worked his ass off on the PK but his AHL offense didn’t translate to the NHL often enough. I always wondered why they wouldn’t use him on that left-wall during the PP. He had a cannon of a shot.

Same goes for Anton Slepyshev. He could blast the biscuit when given the chance but he never was given it. I think in Slepy’s case, he was so inconsistent too. He’d show you what he had every 6 or 7 games but only flashes in the others. I imagine he’s another player who feels let down by the coaching staff after performing so well with Draisaitl and Lucic during the playoffs in 2017.

But the players have to take some responsibility for this past season’s performance and this is one way the GM keeps the team accountable I guess. It also gives him the ability to bring in some new blood to spice things up.

I wonder if the Columbus Blue Jackets will look to shake the roster up a bit this off-season. Maybe a player like Boone Jenner becomes available.

Speaking of shaking loose, the Anaheim Ducks let go long-time assistant coach Trent Yawney. A bit of a shocker but something had to happen in Anaheim after their 1st round bowing out to the San Jose Sharks.

Yawney had been with the Ducks for 7 years and it was in the last 4 years he was in charge of their defense and penalty killing. In that time the Anaheim Ducks had THE BEST penalty kill in the NHL. Numero uno! The Oilers had the 27th best.

He also oversaw the development of key dmen like Cam Fowler, Hampus Lindholm, Sami Vatanen, Josh Manson, Brandon Montour, and to a lesser extent Shea Theodore.

Bob’s right. Yawney does check off a lot of boxes. I hope the Oilers do indeed go after Trent Yawney as an assistant coach to replace Jim Johnson.

Will Jay Woodcroft get replaced is the next question though? It was his PP that ate shite all year whereas the PK improved after McLellan took over. People on the Twitter machine have been throwing out Glen Gulutzan’s name to replace Woody but I’m not for that. Calgary’s PP was pretty horrid in his two seasons with the club but John Shannon said on Oilers Now today that he’d be a good fit for the Oilers and is an excellent communicator.

Either way, the Oilers should bring in someone new to run their PP. Over the last four seasons, it’s ranked 22nd in the NHL and that’s not good enough with the playing personnel on hand.

If that means bringing in Manny Viveiros from Swift Current of the WHL, so be it. If that means overpaying Todd Nelson to come back, so be it. Lastly, IF that means backing up a Brinks truck to Pascal Vincent’s house to get him to leave the Manitoba Moose (Winnipeg Jets AHL affiliate), so be it.

Get. Er. Done Boys!

Just a quick one on Mikko Koskinen.

Jason Gregor and Bob Stauffer are saying that the reported $2.5M per year for two years number that was thrown out by KHL insider and Hockeybuzz writer Aivis Kalniņš is incorrect.

I agree that the number sounds way too high. I’d heard he was making like 1.3M Euros per year but I can’t confirm that. I guess the conversion would make that close to $2M CDN. But anything over $2M would be very risky in my opinion.

This is all predicated on the Finnish goalie signing in Edmonton of course but we don’t know how Koskinen will perform on the smaller ice. He hasn’t played on it since his days in the Islanders organization… So Edmonton should treat lightly here.

I wrote about Koskinen yesterday here.

OILERS NEWS

Who are Peter Chiarelli and Todd McLellan considering for the new Edmonton Oilers bench coach positions

Mikko Koskinen: Good signing or Overpayment?

Four-year Oiler Iiro Pakarinen reported heading for KHL

Oilers & Hurricanes Could Be Perfect Trade Partners

Oilers’ Forward Options for the Draft

Oilers Defense Options for the Draft

2018-19 Oilers: Piecing Together Roster

RFA Profile: Drake Caggiula is still carving out a niche

After heavy hockey sinks like a stone in Pacific, Peter Chiarelli looks to salvage the good ship Oilers

How much more development can Edmonton Oilers expect from Tyler Benson?

NHL RUMORS

NHL Rumors: Edmonton Oilers and the St. Louis Blues

NHL Rumors: Anaheim Ducks – Need To Get Younger, Faster … Do They Look To Trade Corey Perry?

NHL Rumors: New Jersey Devils and the Philadelphia Flyers

NHL Rumors: The Montreal Canadiens Need At Center

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Friedman Says the Oilers are the Front Runners for Giant Finnish Goalie Mikko Koskinen

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You probably have heard either via the Twitter or from Hockey Night in Canada Elliotte Friedman say that the Oilers are in on Finnish goaltender Mikko Koskinen. This new shouldn’t come as a shock to anybody. There are changes afoot in the KHL and a ton of talent is looking to come to the NHL. And if you’ve been listening to Bob Stauffer recently you’d know he asked both Todd McLellan AND Peter Chiarelli during their year-end avails questions as to procuring a goalie out of “non-traditional markets”…

Buyer Beware

Mikko Koskinen has played the last 5 seasons for Vladimir Putin’s team SKA in the KHL. He’s had the luxury of playing behind the best team money can buy over in Russia but that being said, he still has to play well to stay on said team and he has.

The 6’6″ 200lb Mikko Koskinen was once a blue-chip goaltending prospect in the New York Islanders system after being drafted as a 2o year old in the 2nd round of the 2009 draft 31st overall. Basically a first round pick.

But for whatever reason things didn’t pan out in that organization and his numbers were simply unacceptable, as you can see above, in his three seasons as a goalie in North America.

This from Islanders blog, Lighthouse Hockey:

While in the Islanders organization, he had basically one full season in AHL Bridgeport with an ugly .892 save percentage, though it was on a(nother) weak team. A hip problem clearly interfered with his performance during his entry level contract playing for the Islanders, Sound Tigers, and their then-ECHL affiliate Utah Grizzlies.

A couple of things working in his advantage are his size and I believe his age. Koskinen is 30 now and we know that goaltenders can be fickle when it comes to development but this fella has put up consistently good numbers since moving to Europe.

If the Oilers are looking at signing Mikko Koskinen to be their backup in 2018, are they aiming high enough? What I mean is that last season was lost due to “hoping” the kids would step up. Are the Oilers back to that “hoping” model again? Or are his numbers and the scouting reports out of Russia/Finland telling the Oilers that this guy can play 25-30 games next season?

Is Mikko Koskinen the next Viktor Fasth/Anders Nilsson or is he Chiarelli’s next Tim Thomas?

https://twitter.com/NHLbyMatty/status/987879721902977026

MY THOUGHTS

I’m divided. He doesn’t have a good history in North America but he’s older now and there are plenty of examples of goalies who flourish in the later years. The optimist in me says the Oilers should go for it because he’s a big netminder and he’s put up fantastic numbers in the KHL but then the pessimist says he’s a slow netminder and the KHL isn’t the NHL.

https://twitter.com/AdamsOnHockey/status/987886984931639297

Should the Oilers go this route and it fails, they’ll probably still have Montoya as the no.3 who could come up but if they do sign the Finn and he succeeds, how high is the ceiling here? Are we talking Pekka Rinne high? Kiprusoff?

What is a realistic expectation of a 3o-year old goalie coming to the NHL from the KHL with his size and his stats?

https://twitter.com/NHLbyMatty/status/987880255053447168

Are we overthinking this? For the love of Pete, this is the backup goalie we’re talking about here…

Here are some scouting reports of the big guy:

He takes up a ton of net and he is difficult to beat when he has time to square up to the shooter. Predictably, he struggles a bit with his mobility and regularly ends up scrambling. However, he is extremely flexible for a man his size. That combined with his long limbs helps Koskinen make up for whatever deficiencies exist in his lateral movement. Brent Craswell (link)

Koskinen’s greatest asset is his size, which he uses to seemingly fill the entire net and he covers a lot of space in the butterfly. He is inexperienced in terms of the number of games played and has not had a lot of international experience – excelling in the SM-Liiga where he ordinarily does not see the booming slapshots or accurate snipers more common in North America.  Still learning as a goaltender, he must work to improve his quickness and foot speed. Very good at anticipating chances and setting himself to limit scoring opportunities.  Quality teammate who has earned the respect of the veteran players in Espoo. (link)

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