Well, the revolving door that is the team's goaltender position is at it again, as the Oilers made two trades, sending Devan Dubnyk to the Nashville Predators in exchange for Matt Hendricks. Later in the day, the Oilers gave up a third round pick in this year's Draft to get Ben Scrivens from the Los Angeles Kings.
For Dubnyk, the trade ends an often up and down tenure in Edmonton that saw last season become his best in an Oilers uniform. However, he did not live up to the higher expectations placed upon him this season, and as a result, he often split time with Jason Labarbera, Richard Bachman, and Ilya Bryzgalov. That meant he could not beat out player since traded (Labarbera), a likely career backup (Bachman), and a player that was starting this season in Las Vegas of the ECHL (Bryzgalov). While it may be argued that the Oilers could have gotten more than just Hendricks for Dubnyk, it was clear that the former first round pick in 2004 just wouldn't be able to fulfill his potential on an Oilers team that simply never had the defense.
Scrivens posted sterling numbers as a backup to Jonathan Quick and later, splitting time with Martin Jones. Prior to that, he posted decent numbers splitting time with James Reimer in Toronto. The numbers game in Los Angeles made Scrivens expendable, as Quick is the established number one goalie while Jones made his case to be on the Kings with his play while Quick was out. Scrivens will likely start out splitting time with Bryzgalov, but could very well be the starter by season's end. Scrivens will probably not post the ridiculous numbers that he has had this season, but at the very least, he provides steady play on an Oilers team that has been anything but the last few years. Both Dubnyk and Scrivens are free agents after the season, and while Scrivens has a chance to make a case to be a starter somewhere next season, Dubnyk will be out to prove that he can fulfill his potential before it is too late.
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