Good morning, everyone, and a happy Monday to you all. As per tradition, I’ve got a brand new mailbag set to go after taking your questions and sending them to the crew for their takes. This week, we’re discussing the Tristan Jarry/Stuart Skinner trade, defensive pairings without Brett Kulak, Connor Ingram, and more. If you’ve got a question you’d like to ask, email it to me at baggedmilk@oilersnation.com or on Twitter at @jsbmbaggedmilk, and I’ll get to you as soon as I can.

The Internet had complaints. I’m shocked. Stunned. The Oilers felt Jarry would be an upgrade, so they made the move and acquired Stastney to offset losing Kulak. Money in, money out. You can’t overlook that. There is a risk, as with any trade. I see the rationale behind it. I’ve always felt Skinner took too much blame, considering he was never paid to be an elite starter, yet some thought he was. Jarry does move better, but he and Stastney don’t have the playoff experience of Skinner and Kulak. That is the risk, but we won’t know how they do until the playoffs. I don’t think the cost was that overwhelming, especially if Jarry performs better.

Stan Bowman got the best goalie available to him on the market while getting rid of two players he wasn’t going to re-sign. I was a big fan of Stuart Skinner, but the numbers tell us that Tristan Jarry is better than him. Hopefully, Edmonton can continue to play a strong defensive game to help Jarry out, too, but they’ll now get those favours back from their new #1.

Jarry’s an upgrade. He’s been more consistent over a larger body of work, and I think he carries a higher ceiling, too. Time will tell how things work out, but I don’t think this was a lateral move.

My favourite part of the reaction was how SO MANY PEOPLE WANTED A GOALIE TRADE, and when we got one, those same folks were like, “NO, NOT THAT ONE!” Hilarious. I loved it.

I don’t buy the sake of change argument. They are in the window to win, and they must feel Jarry gives them a better chance to win. No one, not even Stan Bowman, will fully know that until they get in the playoffs. The other factor is that they have their starting goalie locked up for three years and know what his cap hit will be. There is a benefit to that.

Yes, Jarry is a better goaltender than Skinner today and has been for most of his career. He’s had one bad season, with his save percentage under .900, and has bounced back. Oilers fans should be thrilled about this deal.

I think the Oilers are a better team.

I think they’re slightly better because I believe in Tristan Jarry. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous about going from Kulak to Stastney, but only time will tell if this was the right move or not.

I think he is in the regular season. Kulak hasn’t been great over the past two regular seasons, but he was very good in the playoffs again last year. That is my concern, but any trade involves some risk.

There’s certainly inexperience, but plenty of time to gain some. I won’t pretend I know much about Stastney, but what I do know about Kulak is that he probably would’ve been healthy scratched already this season if he weren’t a veteran. His foot speed was gone, and he couldn’t get his game on track. Now, Edmonton has a 25-year-old defenceman with good upside and quality skating.

I saw this post on X yesterday where somebody shared Kulak’s max skating speed data from NHL Edge. Over the last four years, his percentile ranking has gone from the 97th, to the 90th, to the 87th down to >50th this season. He has, quite literally, been slowing down from age, and there were warts in his game last year during the playoffs that carried over in a way I don’t think anybody was expecting. Kris Knoblauch has mentioned how he likes the mobility and offensive upside Stastney brings, and I’m excited to see what he can do. The Oilers have time until the deadline to make another move for a defenceman if they need to.

I wish I could give you an answer, but I’ve honestly never watched Stastney play outside of the two games he’s had in an Oilers uniform. I think there are tools there — the guy has wheels for days — but it’s going to take a while to figure out if he’s better, worse, or the same as what we already had.

What? He’s played 10 games. Have you watched all 10 games, or are you just looking at the SV%? More to the game than that. He’s had some good games, some bad ones and some average ones. It is still too early to say, but if I’m the Oilers, I’d consider recalling him to see how he does in the NHL. His style is suited better for less chaos, and the NHL structure offers that more than the AHL.

You can declare it over when his contract runs out. There’s no need to move on from him at this point.

It was very clear from the get-go that it was going to be a long road back for Ingram. The Condors have given up the fourth-most goals against and the third most per game. There are other issues going on for that team.

C’mon, really? The guy is working through a comeback at the AHL level. What’s wrong with that?

The Bourgault pick was odd considering they didn’t even have a full-time QMJHL scout at the time. Historically, drafting players out of the QMJHL has less success than the WHL and the OHL. Some feel the QMJHL is more wide open, and has less structure so some players struggle when going to the NHL. But I’m not sold on that 100%, as we’ve seen many great players emerge from that league. Having three players not pan out is more about the harsh reality of drafting 17 and 18-year-olds. Most don’t pan out, but it is fair to ask whether the Oilers have properly scouted players from the QMJHL.

The QMJHL is overrated and no longer produces top talent like it used to. Additionally, those players Edmonton drafted weren’t as good as advertised. The Q had only 19 players drafted last season, which is the most since 2021. The WHL had 33, and the OHL had 38.

The Oilers haven’t historically drafted well out of the Q beyond just the Lavoie, Bourgault and Rodrigue. In fact, in the salary cap era, of the eight players they’ve drafted out of that league, there was only one to play NHL games — 2009 fifth round pick Philippe Cornet, who played two NHL games for the Oilers in 2011-12. Maybe they just shouldn’t draft out of that league at all?

I’m no scout, but it seems like the Oilers never have much success drafting from the QMJHL. Reading Gregor’s answer that they didn’t even have a scout in the Q when they took Bourgault makes the whole decision that much more baffling.

Star Mechanical is one of Edmonton’s biggest locally owned and operated plumbing and heating businesses. They have been working within the community for over 20 years, and many of the homes built in Edmonton over the last two decades have had their plumbing and heating systems installed by Star Mechanical.  Visit them at starmechanical.ca to schedule an appointment and let them help keep your home running smoothly.