The most successful goalie in the Edmonton Oilers organization so far this year? He’s also Edmonton’s biggest wild card in its revolving goalie game.
The most successful not been one of the Oilers starters, Stuart Skinner, Calvin Pickard or Tristan Jarry, as solid as Jarry’s start was with the team before he got hurt Thursday night in Boston and was placed on injured reserve today.
It’s also not been one of the team’s two main American Hockey League goalies, Matt Tomkins or Connor Ingram, though Tompkins has been steady and Ingram just got called up to the Oilers with Jarry flying back to Edmonton for medical attention.
And it’s not been two mammoth, young ECHL prospect goalies, Nathaniel Day or Samuell Jonsson, even as Jonsson got off to a brilliant start before getting banged up.
goalies
No, the goalie who has done the most Connor Ungar, has already played for three teams and is about to play for a fourth, Bakersfield, now that he’s been promoted from the ECHL to the AHL as Ingram’s replacement.
Ungar, 6 feet, 205-pounds, not big by NHL goalie standards, and about to turn 24, not young by prospect standards, was an afterthought heading into the season, after posting just OK rookie ECHL numbers after being signed by the Oilers out of Brock University in Ontario.
With Fort Wayne of the ECHL last year he had a .903 save percentage in 35 games. Day and Jonsson replaced him as the main Fort Wayne goalies this year, which has meant Ungar has moved around from Greensboro to Fort Wayne to Orlando this year, playing 11 games, but essentially crushing it in net with a 0.944 save percentage overall.
He’s been great in all three places, which earned him the call-up to Bakersfield.
Ungar
How long will he be there? That depends on Jarry’s injury status and Ungar’s play, but he’s coming in hot and there’s little stopping him from rising even higher in the organization given Edmonton’s need for quality goaltending at both the AHL and NHL levels.
The Oilers had planned to have one veteran, Tomkins, and one younger goalie in Bakersfield this year, but that went out the window when the uncertain goalie situation in Edmonton saw the team bring in another NHL veteran, Connor Ingram, who is working his way back from a mental health break.
Could Ungar end up in Edmonton this year? He’s now in Bakersfield, and goalies who do well in the AHL are far more likely to be promoted to the NHL than goalies who do well in the ECHL. If Ungar keeps up his high level of play, this wild card of a goalie just might be played by the Oilers in the NHL.
All this represents good timing for Ungar, on the last year of his Entry Level Contract. Both Day and Jonsson have two years left on their ELCs, while Tomkins has another year on his AHL deal.
At the Cult of Hockey
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