logo
OilersNation has no direct affiliation to the Edmonton Oilers, Oilers Entertainment Group, NHL, or NHLPA
Flashback Friday: The Stuart Skinner trade is reminiscent of the Devan Dubnyk trade
alt
Photo credit: © Jerome Miron-Imagn Images
Ryley Delaney
Dec 12, 2025, 20:00 ESTUpdated: Dec 12, 2025, 21:12 EST
Comments
This isn’t the first time the Edmonton Oilers have given up on a 27-year-old goaltender.
On Friday morning, the Oilers sent Stuart Skinner (along with Brett Kulak and a 2029 second-round pick) to the Pittsburgh Penguins for Tristan Jarry and Sam Poulin. In my eyes, this is a lateral move in terms of skill, with more injury risk, a higher cap hit, and more term.
Skinner was born in Edmonton and was drafted by the team in the third round of the 2017 draft. Like most goalies, he got a cup of tea for a couple of seasons before serving as the team’s backup. Well, that was the plan, until Jack Campbell struggled after signing a five-year deal. Skinner stepped up, posting a .914 save percentage and 2.73 goals against average in 50 games during the 2022-23 season, usurping Campbell to become the Oilers’ starter.
The 27-year-old served as the Oilers starter in 2023-24, 2024-25, and 2025,26  to varying levels of success, with his save percentage steadily decreasing throughout the years. When dialed in, Skinner was a terrific goaltender who’d win the Oilers games, but at his worst, he’d go stretches of games where he couldn’t finish with a .900 save percentage.
You could argue that Skinner got far too much leeway on a team in a window of contention. The potential was there, but with the Oilers’ in win-now mode, they need a consistent netminder who can make a high-danger save. Is Jarry that guy? Time will tell.
One netminder who didn’t get that leeway was our very own Devan Dubnyk. Not only did he not get the leeway, but the Oilers sold low on the netminder in the midst of the Decade of Darkness. This’ll be the topic of this week’s Flashback Friday.

Devan Dubnyk’s tenure as an Oiler

Like Skinner, Dubnyk was drafted by the Oilers, only much sooner in the draft. They used their 14th overall to draft the Regina product who was playing for the Western Hockey League’s Kamloops Blazers. Dubnyk played a few seasons in the minor leagues once turning professional, before making his National Hockey League debut in 2009-10.
That season, the 39-year-old appeared in 19 games, posting an .889 save percentage and 3.57 goals against average, not unusual for a young netminder. He served as Nikolai Khabibulin’s backup in 2010-11, outperforming the Stanley Cup winning netminder thanks to a .916 save percentage and 2.71 goals against average in 35 games.
After a strong start in 2011-12, Khabibulin struggled, eventually losing the starting gig to Dubnyk. Despite the Oilers being towards the bottom of the league in the standings, Dubnyk posted a strong .914 save percentage and 2.67 goals against average in 47 games.
The 2012-13 lockout came and went, and the Oilers’ netminder had a strong .921 save percentage and 2.57 goals against average in 38 games, appearing in all but 10 games that season. It was also the closest the Oilers got to the playoffs since the 2007-08 season, as they held a postseason spot in early April.
Entering the 2013-14 season, Dubnyk had a career .913 save percentage and 2.78 goals against average in 139 games played over his four seasons in the NHL. You’d think that’d come with some leeway, especially given that the Oilers were not good, right?
Nope. After 32 games where Dubnyk had an .894 save percentage and 3.36 goals against average, the Oilers sold low by trading him to the Nashville Predators for Matt Hendricks. As awesome as Hendrick was on the Oilers (anyone else remember the wagon line?), this will go down as one of the worst trades made in Oilers’ franchise history, a bold statement given they traded a 16th and 33rd overall pick for a player who played 37 NHL games.
That’s because as you can imagine, Dubnyk figured it out. It wasn’t with the Predators, as he played just two games with them in 2013-14, nor was it with the Montréal Canadiens’ American Hockey League team that same season.
In 2014-15, Dubnyk played 19 games with the Arizona Coyotes, posting a .916 save percentage and 2.72 goals against average. He was then traded to the Minnesota Wild, where he truly broke out. Dubnyk played 39 games with the Wild in 2014-15, posting a .936 save percentage and 1.78 goals against average.
That was good enough to give the 6’6” netminder a .929 save percentage and 2.07 goals against average in 58 games played. Dubnyk was a finalist for the Vezina Trophy, finishing third, while also finishing fourth in Hart Trophy voting.
The potential was always there, and Dubnyk became one of the best netminders in the league, posting a .918 save percentage and 2.41 goals against average over the next four seasons. He earned three All-Star Game appearances and earned Hart and Vezina votes in 2016-17. Eventually, his play tailed off, but from 2014-15 until 2018-19, Dubnyk was one of the best netminders in the league.
And the Oilers, unforced, traded him for pennies on the dollar. Thankfully, it’s not the exact same type of trade with Jarry, as the former Edmonton Oil King has proven to be at worst, an NHL netminder. But still, this is a trade that could come back to haunt the Oilers in the future if Skinner ever lives up to his potential like Dubnyk did.
Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for Oilersnation, FlamesNation, and Blue Jays Nation. Follow her on Twitter @Ryley__Delaney.

ARTICLE PRESENTED BY bet365

Oilers Talk

Featured

Breaking News