Goaltending has not been an area of strength for the Oilers in about a decade, dating back to Cam Talbot’s terrific 2016-17 season. In 2025-26, the Oilers used four netminders, the most in the Connor McDavid era, and the most since 2014-15, when they used five.

Even then, only four full netminders played a full game, and only two netminders played 15 or more games. This season, the Oilers saw four different netminders play 15 or more games: Stuart Skinner, Calvin Pickard, Tristan Jarry, and Connor Ingram. Skinner and Pickard came into the season as the tandem, but Skinner was traded for Jarry.

Shortly after the trade, Jarry went down with an injury, leading the Oilers to call up Ingram. Since his call-up, Ingram has emerged as the team’s starter, as Jarry has posted an .858 save percentage in his 19 games with the team. That trade has not panned out well for the Oilers, to say the least, but with Ingram, the Oilers have an above-average netminder.

In his 32 games, Ingram finished with an .899 save percentage and 2.60 goals against average. A few years ago, that would’ve been below average, but for the first time since the 1995-96 season, the league average save percentage dipped below .900, with the average being .896. That’s the lowest since 1993-94, which had an .895 save percentage. Ingram’s goals-against average is also above average, as the league average sat at 2.88, but that has fluctuated through the years.

Diving a little deeper into the stats thanks to MoneyPuck, Ingram had 1.7 goals saved above expected (GSAx) in his 32 games with the team. That ranks 31st among netminders with 20 or more games played out of a sample size of 66 netminders. It doesn’t sound great, and it isn’t, but it shows that Ingram was an average netminder throughout the season.

But when compared to the other Oiler netminders, it’s spectacular. Jarry finished with a -4.1 GSAx in 33 games, but that included his above-average numbers in Pittsburgh. Over his last 20 games (19 of which were with the Oilers), Jarry has a -11.1 GSAx. Pickard finished with a -3.5 GSAx.

Jarry may have a cap hit of $5.375 million and was brought in to be the starter, but Ingram is their starter. They need league average goaltending, and hopefully Ingram can provide that in the playoffs. That said, you can make the argument that they had it the last two postseasons as well.

The 2025 postseason is the far weaker argument, of course. Skinner started the first two games in the opening round, allowing 11 goals on just 58 shots. He conceded the crease to Pickard, and the Oilers won their next six games before Pickard suffered an injury. When Skinner returned to the crease, he allowed five goals on 27 shots in Game 3 of the semifinals, then proceeded to post a .944 save percentage over the Oilers’ next seven games.

Unfortunately, Skinner couldn’t continue his success in the Stanley Cup Finals. In Game 1 against the Florida Panthers, he stopped 29 of 32 shots, then posted an .881 save percentage or lower over the next five games as the Oilers lost in six. For the series, Skinner had an .860 save percentage, while posting a 0 GSAx for the entire playoffs.

That wasn’t the case for the 2024 playoffs, though. Over 23 games, Skinner posted a .901 save percentage and 2.45 goals-against average and went 14-8-1. Unlike last postseason, Skinner found success against the Los Angeles Kings in the first round, finishing with a .910 save percentage in five games, including a 33-save shutout in Game 4.

His numbers would’ve been much better if not for the first three games against the Vancouver Canucks in the semifinals. In those three games, the netminder allowed 12 goals and 58 shots for a .793 save percentage, as the Oilers dropped two of three. Pickard took over for the next two games, before Skinner returned to the crease for Games 6 and 7. Skinner stopped 29 of 32 shots.

In the Western Conference Final, Skinner stopped 142 of the 154 shots he faced for a .922 save percentage. Skinner’s Game 6 was the last time a netminder stole a game for the Oilers, as the Dallas Stars scored just one goal on 34 shots and outshot the Oilers 34 to 10.

Even in the Stanley Cup Finals, Skinner gave the team league average goaltending. Over his first three games, he stopped just 59 of 68 shots for an .868 save percentage, but the next four games saw him post a .935 save percentage for a .909 save percentage in the series. He out-dueled Sergei Bobrovsky, who posted an .899 save percentage in the seven-game series.

Those three games against the Canucks happened, there’s not getting around it. To put it into context, when you subtract those three games from his totals, giving us a sample size of 20 games, Skinner would’ve had a .913 save percentage. Overall, Skinner finished the 2024 postseason with a 1.9 GSAx, but was rather inconsistent in the last two trips to the Stanley Cup Finals.

The Oilers were the better team in six of the seven games in the 2024 Finals. Goaltending let them down in the first three games, their stars let them down in Game 7. When dialed in, Skinner was terrific and unbeatable at points, but even in his best playoff run, he was not consistent. Ingram has been rather consistent through his Oilers’ tenure, and let’s hope that can continue heading into the playoffs.

Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for Oilersnation, FlamesNation, and Blue Jays Nation. Follow her on Twitter @Ryley__Delaney.

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