Edmonton Oilers coach officially declares starting goalie moving forward
The Edmonton Oilers have named a starting goalie for the final stretch of the season.
Goaltending has continued to be a hot-topic issue in the Alberta capital, even after the departure of Stuart Skinner. Though GM Stan Bowman made his big goalie trade to bring in Tristan Jarry in December, things have not worked out as expected.
Instead of Jarry taking over the reins, it has been Connor Ingram who has been the better goaltender over the last couple of months. Jarry has floundered recently, leading Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch to make an interesting call on Sunday morning.
Moving forward, the Oilers coach confirmed with the media that Ingram will be treated as Edmonton’s starting goalie and will get the majority of the starts ahead of the playoffs.
“Right now, Connor is our starting goalie. He will get the majority of starts as of now, until something changes,” Knoblauch said.
Coach Knoblauch provides commentary on the #Oilers road trip, facing teams chasing them in the standings, the goaltending tandem & more following morning skate. @Enterprise | #LetsGoOilers pic.twitter.com/5LDIBk3hms
— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) March 15, 2026
Ingram was initially acquired by the Oilers in a trade with the Utah Mammoth in exchange for future considerations shortly before the season. He spent the first few months in the AHL with the Bakersfield Condors before being called up to Edmonton in December after Jarry went down with an injury.
His play exceeded expectations, and the decision was made to keep Ingram on the NHL roster over Calvin Pickard, who was sent down last month.
Overall, Ingram has amassed a 9-6-2 record and a .891 save percentage with the Oilers this year. That is much better than Jarry’s 7-6-1 record and .855 SV% through his first few months in the Alberta capital.
Knoblauch did make sure to say that Jarry will be an important part of this Oilers’ squad moving forward.
“I think he’s a wonderful goaltender and we’re gonna need him down the stretch,” Knoblauch said. “We can’t run Ingram every single game, as well as we like how he’s playing right now. We’re gonna need both our goalies, and we’ll need [Jarry] to be at his best.”
The 28-year-old Ingram has been a decent goaltender for the Oilers, but there is some concern about how he would fare in the playoffs. The Saskatchewan native has played just three NHL postseason games in his career, coming with the Nashville Predators in the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs, but lost all three to the Colorado Avalanche.
Also, while his stats have been better than those of other Oilers goalies this season, they still haven’t been exceptional. Ingram’s goals-saved above-expected (GSAx) is still below average at -2.3 according to MoneyPuck.Ā
This presents a bit of a problem for the future of Edmonton’s goaltending as well. Jarry is under contract for two more seasons with a $5.375 million cap hit, while Ingram is set to become a UFA this summer. That is an expensive price tag for a backup goalie.
Keeping both goalies on the payroll will make it difficult to find an outside improvement without trading one of them away. The ideal scenario would be to keep Ingram on as a backup while bringing in a more capable starting goalie, which would be near impossible to do with Jarry on the books.
Things are about to get very interesting inside the Oilers’ crease during the final weeks of the season.