Eetu Laurikainen was inked to an entry level deal on Monday by the Edmonton Oilers.

The Finnish netminding prospect wasn’t a starter in goal for Team Finland at the 2013 U20 World Junior Championships, but he had been named to the team after wowing with the Swift Current Broncos over the first half of his rookie season in North America.

Standing at 6 feet even, Laurikainen — a native of Jyvaskala, Finland — was the twentieth overall selection in the 2012 CHL Import Draft. A strong prospect overseas, he stood in net for two seasons with the WHL’s Swift Current Broncos — posting a .922 SV% in his rookie campaign and a .914 SV% the following year — before getting inked to a one-year deal with the Espoo Blues of Finland’s SM-liiga. He’s a smart, collected goaltender who makes the right decisions when he needs to, but doesn’t overcommit often — and it seems that the Edmonton Oilers are willing to take a chance on that, as he’ll head back to North America starting next season.

At this point in his career, his numbers don’t quite align with immediate success at the NHL level — but Laurikainen has shown in his first year playing pro with the Blues that he’s probably a good fit for a strong starter in Bakersfield next year. The Oilers could assign him to their ECHL affiliate, but he may very well easily slide into a strong role on the club’s AHL team as early as opening week.

What does that mean for Edmonton, though?

Oilers fans got their first real glimpse at what Laurent Brossoit — the top-ranked goaltending prospect dealt to Edmonton in their deal with Calgary for Ladislav Smid — could do in net when he stopped an impressive forty-nine shots against in the team’s 3-1 loss to the San Jose Sharks.

Moving forward, the Oilers have likely realized that they’ll need to find more consistency in net than they’ve been getting from a tandem of Ben Scrivens and Viktor Fasth this season. Still, watching former Oilers goaltender Devan Dubnyk pull a lackluster Minnesota Wild team into the playoffs, it’s clear that Edmonton needs a change on the ice as well — which means that if they think Brossoit is ready, they may start him as an occasional backup next year. There’s no doubt they’ll need another clear starter as well, but the 22-year old netminder looked like he’s nearly NHL-ready when he got the call-up this spring.

By adding Laurikainen, the Oilers are potentially getting a double-whammy out of the signing.

If he remains at the level he played at in Finland this year, he’s — at the very least — got potential to be a long-term starter for the AHL club. If he gets better, though, he could hit a talent ceiling that slots in as an NHL backup — and if they can develop that talent in the minors and groom him to play with Brossoit, they could have their goaltending situation a handful of seasons down the road taken care of. If this is Peter Chiarelli starting to make his mark on Edmonton, it’s a good first mark to make.