Make no mistake, there’s been lots of noise around Edmonton in the weeks and months leading up to the trade deadline about the state of the Oilers goaltending.
It has been a weak point for the club throughout the year, but especially so in the last month as since the start of February, their .872 team save percentage ranks sixth last in the league. The defensive game in front of Stuart Skinner and Calvin Pickard hasn’t been ideal, but there’s been more games than not where an extra save or two has been needed.
Fans have clamoured for the Oilers to make a change and trade for a new goaltender, but that noise hasn’t gotten to Skinner, who stood tall Thursday night turning aside 25 of 27 shots for a .927 save percentage in their 3-2 win over the Canadiens.
“I have no idea what’s going on. Zero clue. I have zero clue,” said Skinner when asked after the game how he’s dealing with all the noise. “I mean, I’ve been around this city long enough that I’m sure they’re talking about myself as well, but I got a job to do: stop the puck.
“I’m just going to continue to do that whatever anybody says.”
Both Skinner and Pickard have gotten a vote of confidence from general manager Stan Bowman, who said on a recent episode of the Frankly Speaking podcast he was comfortable with them.
“He’s done a very good job for us, and same thing with Pick, Calvin Pickard’s done a really good job in not as many games,” he said. “He’s done really good, too.
“I understand there’s a lot of attention on the goaltending position, and I’ve seen that before and I’ve seen, for some reason, certain goalies maybe just don’t get the benefit of the doubt if they’re not perfect all the time,” he said. “If you watch a lot of hockey, you’ll see great goalies have bad stretches. They just do. If you don’t follow it that closely, you might think there’s certain goalies that are somewhat immune to the criticism, but they have bad times too, they just don’t get as much attention when it happens.”
Bowman compared the criticism to that which Corey Crawford received when he was with the Blackhawks in the early 2010s, highlighting how it never went away.
“For some reason, he wasn’t viewed as maybe in the same echelon (as other elite goalies), but he was such a good goalie for us in Chicago those years and I never really understood why he was criticized if he wasn’t perfect all the time,” Bowman said. “But even though he won cups, it never really mattered. Other guys who hadn’t won got a long runway of them put on these pedestals.
“That’s life, and I think Stu has a really good demeanor, and a really good approach. He’s an even keeled guy, he’s got a good demeanor. If you watch closely, he’s done a good job for us.”
Skinner may not have the cup rings that Crawford had, but he did play a key role in helping the Oilers get to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals last year. While he struggled to the tune of a .877 save percentage and -5.39 goals saved above expected in eight games through Game 3 of their second round series against the Vancouver Canucks last year, he was a huge part of their run through the finals.
When he returned from two games off, he posted a .914 save percentage and a 10.33 goals saved above expected through the remainder of that series, the Western Conference Finals against the Dalls Stars and Game 7 of the Finals against Florida.
Zach Laing is Oilersnation’s associate editor, senior columnist, and The Nation Network’s news director. He also makes up one-half of the DFO DFS Report. He can be followed on Twitter, currently known as X, at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach.laing@bettercollective.com.
