By: Nick Lanciani
The St. Louis Blues began their Saturday by acquiring Edmonton Oilers goaltender, Anders Nilsson, in exchange for goaltender Niklas Lundstrom and a fifth round pick in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft.
Nilsson is a 25-year-old who has played in 26 games this season for the Oilers. His 10-12-2 record, along with a 3.14 GAA and .901 SV% provide a little depth for the Blues in net given their recent injury prone run in goal. Nilsson will be assigned to St. Louis’s American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Chicago Wolves.
The 6’5″, 229-pound goalie is a native of Lulea, Sweden and was drafted by the New York Islanders in the third round (62nd overall) of the 2009 NHL Entry Draft. He has played in 49 career NHL games for the Islanders and Oilers, amassing a 19-21-4 record and a 3.10 career GAA, as well as a .900 career SV% and one shutout.
Lundstrom is a 23-year-old goalie who was drafted by St. Louis in the fifth round (132nd overall) in the 2011 NHL Entry Draft. He split this season between the ECHL’s Elmira Jackals and the AHL’s Chicago Wolves. Lundstrom is a native of Varmdo, Sweden and is 6’1″, 194 pounds.
He has an 8-3-0 record in 13 games with Elmira and a 1-1-0 record in four games with the Wolves this season.
Late on Friday night/early Saturday morning (if you’re on the East coast), TSN’s Bob McKenzie tweeted that it was believed that the St. Louis Blues had acquired 25-year-old goaltender, Anders Nilsson, from the Edmonton Oilers in exchange for a mid-round draft pick.
It's believed EDM has traded Nilsson to STL in exchange for a mid-round draft pick. Possibly a 4th or 5th rounder.
— Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) February 27, 2016
The Blues, of course, just regained the health of their goalie, Jake Allen, but lost Brian Elliott due to injury in the span of about 24 hours apart from one another. St. Louis was just one of a few teams looking to add a goalie down the stretch (with San Jose having added James Reimer on Saturday and Buffalo in search of another net minder and/or trading partner for Chad Johnson).
Neither the Edmonton Oilers, nor the Blues, had officially announced a trade involving Nilsson following Friday night’s action.
Shortly before 3 AM on the East Coast, Anaheim tweeted some sort of cryptic message shown below just to cause anguish for those of us still up at the crazy hour of almost three in the morning (aside from the fact that the Ducks beat the Oilers 2-1 in overtime, of course).
https://twitter.com/AnaheimDucks/status/703483886488014848
This post has been updated to reflect the official announcement of the trade.
