Back in July, Edmonton made an intriguing, under-the-radar move by acquiring the rights to KHL goalie Anders Nilsson.
The deal didn’t garner much attention, possibly because the Oilers had already made a bigger splash in goal -- trading for ex-Rangers backup Cam Talbot at the draft -- and, of course, they still had Ben Scrivens in the mix.
But the attention could soon be on Nilsson.
“My mindset is to challenge for the No. 1 job,” the Swedish stopper told the Edmonton Journal. “That’s why I signed the one-year contract and it’s up to me to perform.”
Nilsson, 25, is an interesting entity.
Picked 62nd overall by the Isles in 2009, he appeared in 23 games for New York over three seasons before signing with KHL team AK Bars Kazan last summer. A few months later, the Isles traded Nilsson’s rights — he was an RFA upon leaving for Russia — to Chicago, as part of the Nick Leddy deal.
In Russia, Nilsson boosted his stock by going 20-9-8 with a 1.71 GAA and .936 save percentage. He also played for Team Sweden at the 2015 Worlds, splitting time with Jhonas Enroth.
The 6-foot-5, 220-pounder signed with Edmonton almost immediately upon being acquired, seemingly determined to resurrect his NHL career. With the Oilers, he’s projected to battle Scrivens for the No. 2 gig behind Talbot -- who, tentatively, is penciled in as the No. 1 -- but if the last few years in Edmonton have shown anything, it’s that minutes in net are constantly up for grabs.
