And that totally can't happen again, right?
Vegas doesn't just have a "well run organization". They have a real case for being the best run organization in the league, flat out.
I'd say Lehner (when he's healthy) is also better than any goalie the Oilers have had post the "one good year of Talbot". We get "joy" like years of Mikko Koskinen, praying that Mike Smith's 90 year old body doesn't fall apart, and this wonderful season of having the distinct pleasure of the shittiest starter in the regular season followed up by the shittiest starter through 2 playoff rounds until it was finally too much and the team got eliminated, lol.
Our goaltending situation maybe aside from like one season of Talbot and like some spurts from grandpa Smith has been ass since like 2006 basically. For whatever reason or excuse one wants to make, this team just cannot figure out that position, even when we get "talented" goalies, they mentally collapse. Poorly constructed blue lines with frauds like Nurse trying to "lead" them is also probably a big part of the issue.
The thing is no goalie acquisition can prevent that from happening again, as much as you want to act like Nostradamus and say if we acquire goalie X, that will lead us to the promised land goaltending remains unpredictable.
I also think to help illustrate this I'll rate Hellebuyck playoff performances in order:
In 2017-18 he was Very Good
In 2018-19 he was just OK
In 2019-20 he was Bad
In 2020-21 he was Great
In 2002-23 he was Terrible
In short 2 performances we would be happy with, one that was fine, and two that were bad, culminating in him being the great goalie that will save us about 40% of the time.
Would I feel a lot better if our high priced goalie was Hellebuyck rather than Campbell, sure, but it's not that black and white of a question, the acquisition cost for Hellebuyck is likely significant and the cost of moving out Campbells salary would likely be a headache coming off the season he just had and further complicated by his NTC.
I'm of the preference of just changing one variable in our goalie coach and then re-evaluating as the season goes by, based on what we see we can make the call if an upgrade on Ceci or goaltending is a more pressing need at the deadline. I wouldn't turn a blind eye to the offseason goalie wheeling and dealing and I'd keep an open mind, but I'm not frothing at the mouth for a goalie upgrade like you are.
