The Edmonton Oilers need to acquire a netminder before it’s too late.

This is something that most people are aware of, but over the past few seasons, I have been an ardent supporter of Stuart Skinner. Through the quarter mark of the 2025-26 season, Skinner’s flaws have been exposed even more than in the past two years, and Wednesday’s 7-4 loss to the Washington Capitals is a prime example of why the panic is no longer just noise.

Unlike Edmonton’s slow starts in 2023-24 and 2024-25, they have played exactly like their record suggests. Wednesday’s game was one of the few nights this year when they flat-out dominated a team, yet they still lost because Skinner couldn’t buy a save. He allowed five goals on just 19 shots for a .731 save percentage.

Through 22 games this season, the Oilers have a 40.82 percent share of goals at five-on-five, which is second-worst in the league. Their underlying numbers are a bit better, as they own 44.79 percent of expected goals, but that is still the 11th-worst mark in the league. It has resulted in a 9-9-4 record that is slightly worse than last season’s start and better than the one two years ago, but the overall picture is not encouraging.

But the comparison to previous years falls apart quickly. By the 22-game mark of the 2023-24 season, the Oilers had a 45.05 percent goal share at five-on-five (sixth worst), yet they had 56.82 percent of expected goals, which was third in the league. They were drastically underperforming their real value. By Game 22 of 2024-25, they had a 48.89 percent goal share and the fourth-best expected goal share at 53.85 percent.

That is concerning enough, but what is even worse is the change in scoring chances. By Game 22 in 2023-24, the Oilers generated 241 high-danger chances (best in the league) and gave up only 173, which was the eighth-fewest. Their high-danger save percentage was .741, tied for second-worst.

In 2024-25, they generated 217 high-danger chances (third in the league) and gave up 168 (13th fewest). Their high-danger save percentage was .802, still ninth worst, but at least the skaters drove play in a way that compensated.

This year, everything has flipped. So far in 2025-26, the Oilers have generated only 165 high-danger chances at five-on-five, tied for the ninth fewest. They have given up 201 high-danger chances, the sixth most in the league. And to make matters worse, they own a league-worst .717 save percentage on high-danger shots.

According to Moneypuck, Skinner has a .758 high-danger save percentage at five-on-five, which ranks fourth-worst in the league among goalies with at least seven games played. Calvin Pickard has been even worse at .667, the lowest in the league. If you are curious, Juuse Saros is the third-worst at .727, and Cam Talbot is fourth-worst at .750.

The league-wide save percentage has dropped to .896, the lowest since 1993-94, but Skinner’s .881 is still well below even this year’s deflated average. It is no longer possible to hide behind excuses about small samples, defensive breakdowns, or early-season randomness. The Oilers cannot win when the goaltending collapses every other night.

At the same time, the team in front of the goalies is not helping either. Their defensive structure has fallen apart compared to the previous two seasons. They are giving up more high-danger chances, protecting the slot poorly, and losing the interior of the ice far too often. In the past, the Oilers allowed a manageable amount of high-danger looks but compensated by generating more of their own. This year, they are doing neither.

This is why blaming only the goalies misses part of the picture. The skaters are also failing at the things they did well in 2023-24 and 2024-25. But the bottom line remains: if your goalies cannot stop high-danger shots at a league-average level, you cannot survive in the NHL.

Which brings us back to the main point. Something needs to be done, and I am not sure what the path forward is. Skinner currently has 0.2 Goals Saved Above Expected, which ranks 24th in the league among goalies with 10 or more games played. It is not disastrous, but it is nowhere near good enough.

Calvin Pickard has not provided stability either, and Edmonton is running out of time to hope the tandem will figure it out on its own. The team no longer has the elite five-on-five play that once masked below-average goaltending. Without that, the cracks are too obvious to ignore.

A move needs to be made. Whether it is a major swing for a starting goalie or a strategic move to stabilize the crease, something has to happen before January, or the season will slip away. And if it is not Stan Bowman doing the fixing, then hire someone who will.