Should Tristan Jarry or Devon Levi Be the Oilers’ No. 1 Goalie?

The Edmonton Oilers entered the 2026-27 NHL season with everyone wondering, who is their No. 1 netminder? Two weeks later, that question is no closer to being answered.

Edmonton is off to a terrific start, going 4-0-1 including a perfect 3-0-0 record on the road. The Oilers are the only team in the NHL yet to lose in regulation and have the league’s highest point percentage, at a rate of .900.

In goal for the Oilers, Devon Levi is 3-0-0 with a goals-against average (GAA) of 3.35 and save percentage (SV%) of .863, while Tristan Jarry is 1-0-1 with a 3.46 GAA and .837 SV%. Both Oilers goalies struggled mightily in their first appearance, and both were great in their latest outing.

At no point has new Oilers coach Mike Babcock tipped his hand about who he prefers between the pipes, and his decision-making about which goalie starts a given game has proven hard to decipher. So who is Edmonton’s No. 1 goaltender? Let’s take a closer look at the scenario:

Andersen Injury

Originally, the competition for crease time in Edmonton was going to be a three-horse race, with veteran netminder Fredrik Andersen also in the running. Andersen signed a one-year contract with the Oilers on July 1 after helping the Carolina Hurricanes win the Stanley Cup.

However, Andersen sustained an injury during the summer and missed all of training camp before being placed on long-term injured reserve (LTIR) at the start of the season. Babcock has since said that the 37-year-old isn’t expected back until maybe December.

Preseason Auditions

With Andersen sidelined, it became clear that Edmonton would be starting the season with the goaltending duo of Jarry and Levi, an intriguing combination: Both gave reason for optimism, but neither gave reason for confidence.

Jarry, who is now in his 11^th NHL season, has the edge in experience, with more than 300 games under his belt. He never got on track after being acquired from the Pittsburgh Penguins last December, going 9-6-2 with a 3.86 GAA and .858 SV% in 19 appearances with the Oilers, and was effectively supplanted by the now-retired Connor Ingram as Edmonton’s starting goalie. But at age 31, Jarry is still young enough that it’s not far-fetched to think he could rediscover the form that made him an All-Star Game goalie earlier in his career.

Levi, acquired in an offseason trade with the Buffalo Sabres, has the edge in potential. He was once thought to be Buffalo’s goalie of the future, but his upward trajectory was derailed when he got off on a poor start to the 2024-25 season, and he spent all of 2025-26 in the American Hockey League (AHL). Still only 24 years old, there’s hope that a change of scenery is all Levi needs to reach the levels previously envisioned of him.

Both goalies each appeared in two games during the preseason, and each made a tremendous impression, playing so strongly that neither could separate himself form the other: Jarry went 2-0-0 with a 1.23 GAA and .952 SV%, while Levi went 1-0-0 with a 1.20 GAA and .946 SV%.

Goalies Struggle in Season Debuts

Jarry was given the start for Edmonton’s season-opening game, at home against the Vancouver Canucks on Sept. 29. Things couldn’t have gone much worse for the veteran, who gave up six goals on 23 shots in an overtime loss against a team that many pundits expected to finish at the bottom of the standings.

That said, things might have actually gone worse for Levi when he started Edmonton’s second game, a rematch against the Canucks, at Rogers Arena on Oct 1. In his Oilers debut, Levi stopped just 15 of 22 shots, allowing seven goals over the game’s final 36 minutes. The only difference for Levi is that the Oilers actually won, thanks to an offensive explosion that saw the visitors build an 8-2 lead and hang on to prevail by a score of 9-7.  

To be fair, neither goalie had much defensive help from his teammates in Edmonton’s first two games. The Oilers needed to be better between the pipes and in their own end.

Levi Finds His Form

Statistically, Levi’s performance against the Canucks ranked among the worst in franchise history. In fact, no Oilers goalie had ever been credited with the win while recording a SV% as low as Levi’s .682.

With that in mind, it was a bit of a surprise that Babcock decided to go back to Levi for Edmonton’s third game, at home against the Seattle Kraken on Oct. 3. But the coach was showing faith in his young goalie, and Levi responded, making 19 saves in a 3-1 win for the Oilers. Levi played composed, came up with timely saves, and also got a much better effort defensively from his teammates.

Levi got a third straight start when Edmonton opened its three-game road trip against the host Anaheim Ducks on Oct. 7.  The Oilers came out and trailed 2-0 after twenty minutes, but the deficit could have much greater were it not for Levi, who made 14 saves in the first period. From that point on, Levi’s teammates stepped up their defensive play, while also providing plenty of run support, scoring five times in the second period. Levi wound up making 29 saves to backstop Edmonton to a 5-2 win.

Jarry Bounces Back

Rather than ride the (relatively) hot hand, Babcock elected to go back to Jarry between the pipes when the Oilers visited the San Jose Sharks at SAP Center on Saturday (Oct. 10). While the coach had said at the outset of the road trip that Levi would start once and Jarry would start twice, many thought he might deviate from those plans after Levi’s back-to-back strong performances.

But just as he had shown faith in Levi the week prior, Babcock demonstrated confidence in his veteran, and Jarry rose to the occasion, making 19 saves to backstop Edmonton to a 3-1 win. It was one of the most consistent performances since becoming an Oiler for Jarry, who had registered a save percentage of .950 or higher in only one of his prior 17 regular season starts with Edmonton.

Who Should Start Against Kings?

The Oilers are next in action on Tuesday (Oct .13) against the host Los Angeles Kings, and if Babcock sticks with his original plan, Jarry will get his second straight start.

A factor to consider is Edmonton’s sporadic schedule over the first couple weeks of the season. After opening with three games in five nights, the Oilers have had breaks of 3, 2, and now 2 days off between games. Their next game after Tuesday is back home on Thursday (Oct. 15) against the Utah Mammoth, so If Levi doesn’t play in Los Angeles, he will go at least seven days between appearances.

Thus far, Edmonton’s goalies have shown they can rebound from a poor performance, and there has also been a demonstration of an ability to stay sharp over an extended layoff, while not getting sidetracked by Babcock’s rotation.

So maybe the question isn’t, ‘Who is Edmonton’s No. 1 netminder?’, but rather, ‘Do the Oilers need a truly defined No. 1 goalie?’. The modern-day NHL is trending more and more towards teams with a ‘1A’ and ‘1B’ between the pipes, and there are many examples of this producing success (look no further than the Hurricanes, who won the Stanley Cup in 2026 after virtually splitting starts between Andersen and Brandon Bussi throughout the regular season, then going with Andersen for the first 16 games of the playoffs before Bussi started and won the last three contests of the Stanley Cup Final).

Edmonton, in fact, may find itself with a three-goalie rotation when Andersen is finally ready to go. Until then, it doesn’t matter whether Levi or Jarry is the masked man on the marquee, as long as the Oilers keep winning.