Edmonton Oilers make transaction involving goaltender: It's a fresh one-year contract

On the surface, this looks like a routine offseason depth move most fans will scroll past.

It deserves more attention than that.

Ungar's entry-level contract expired at the end of the 2025-26 season, making him a restricted free agent this summer.

His first professional year was a grind - he bounced across three ECHL teams in Fort Wayne, Greensboro, and Orlando, largely because a goalie logjam in Bakersfield blocked him from earning consistent AHL starts.

The minutes were hard to come by.

The results weren't.

Ungar posted a 1.54 goals-against average and a .944 save percentage across his ECHL stops, elite marks for a 24-year-old navigating an unstable first pro season on the margins of the organization.

Stan Bowman didn't retain Ungar out of obligation. Tristan Jarry is entrenched as the Oilers' NHL starter through 2027-28, and Connor Ingram provides the tandem.

With Calvin Pickard and Matt Tomkins no longer clogging the AHL pipeline, the Bakersfield crease now projects to be a full-time home for Ungar and Samuel Jonsson.

Jonsson posted a 1.50 GAA and .952 save percentage in the ECHL playoffs this spring.

Together, they give Edmonton something the organization has rarely been able to say - two legitimate young goalies developing simultaneously on cost-controlled deals.

A one-year, two-way deal at $850,000 is not a commitment to Ungar as a future NHL starter.

It is a signal that Edmonton is investing in its crease depth at a time when the NHL roster picture beyond 2027-28 remains unsettled.

Ungar and Jonsson are how that planning begins in earnest.