Mike Babcock says he hasn’t got a proper look at his goaltenders beyond preseason minutes, with Freddie Andersen still working back from off-season surgeries, as Sportsnet reported this week. That is the entire story on the surface. Underneath it is a problem Edmonton cannot afford twice in a row.
Why Preseason Sample Size Lies
Camp goaltending battles get decided on almost nothing — a handful of exhibition starts against lineups half-full of AHL call-ups, against opponents who are themselves resting regulars. Save percentage in that window is close to noise. Coaches know this, which is why Babcock’s comment reads less like patience and more like an admission: the real evaluation hasn’t started, and the season is about to force a decision anyway. Whoever gets the net on opening night is being chosen on limited data, not on form against NHL-calibre shooters.
That matters more for goaltenders than any other position because the job is almost entirely about repetition and rhythm. A skater can be eased in over ten games. A goalie who hasn’t faced real pressure in exhibition play is walking into October cold, and Edmonton doesn’t have the standings cushion to absorb a slow start while someone finds their form live.
The Andersen Variable
Andersen’s absence isn’t a depth-chart footnote — it’s the whole equation. A goaltender rehabbing from multiple off-season procedures isn’t on a fixed return date the way a skater with a lower-body injury might be; recovery and game-readiness are separate clocks, and teams routinely misjudge the gap between the two. Until Edmonton has him skating full contact in practice, any goalie plan the coaching staff commits to is provisional. That’s an awkward place to be for a team that has been two wins from a Cup in each of the last two springs and knows exactly how much a shaky net cost them.
What This Actually Decides
The stakes here aren’t really about who starts game one. They’re about whether Edmonton enters the year with a goaltender it trusts in April, because that’s when this roster has repeatedly needed one and not reliably had it. A committee approach bought on preseason optics buys time, not certainty. Babcock’s honesty about not having enough information yet is the more useful signal than anything the box scores from exhibition games will tell you — it means the real audition starts once the games count, and Edmonton’s margin for finding out the hard way is thinner than it was a year ago.
Reported at Sportsnet; analysis ours.
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