Just a day after winning the WHL Championship with the Swift Current Broncos, Stuart Skinner inked an entry-level deal with the Edmonton Oilers.
Skinner, a local product, was Edmonton’s third-round choice in 2017. He had played for the Lethbridge Hurricanes for three seasons but got traded to the Broncos mid-way through the season as Swift Current made their championship push. From there, Skinner’s performance massively improved. He had an .897 save percentage in 31 games with Lethbridge and improved to a .914 save percentage in 25 games with Swift Current.
In the playoffs, though, Skinner really started to play at an elite level. In the WHL Final, he out-duelled Carter Hart, the goaltender for Team Canada at the World Juniors who’s largely esteemed as the best goalie prospect in Junior hockey, posting a 2.20 GAA and .932 save percentage with six shutouts over the team’s championship run.
With Dylan Wells set to turn pro next season, it seems reasonable to assume Skinner will play another season in Junior. The Oilers will head into 2018-19 with Cam Talbot and Mikko Koskinen as their NHL goalies, Al Montoya is still under contract but could be buried in the AHL, Laurent Brossoit is set to become a UFA, Nick Ellis is an RFA, and Shane Starrett and Wells are on entry-level deals.

SKINNER’S WHL STATS

SeasonTeamLgeGPAPIMMinGAENSOGAAWLTSvsPct
2013-14
Lethbridge Hurricanes
WHL
4
1
0
197
17
0
0
5.17
0
3
0
110
0.866
2014-15
Lethbridge Hurricanes
WHL
43
1
6
2327
143
3
1
3.69
13
20
5
1430
0.909
2015-16
Lethbridge Hurricanes
WHL
44
2
0
2238
102
5
3
2.73
27
10
1
1173
0.920
2016-17
Lethbridge Hurricanes
WHL
60
3
2
3386
184
7
2
3.26
34
18
2
1749
0.905
2017-18
Lethbridge Hurricanes
WHL
31
2
2
1737
98
7
4
3.38
14
15
0
856
0.897
2017-18
Swift Current Broncos
WHL
25
1
0
1433
64
2
2
2.68
16
6
1
680
0.914
2017-18p
Swift Current Broncos
WHL
26
0
2
1609
59
4
6
2.20
16
8
0
811
0.932
Source: Edmonton Oilers, Verified Twitter Account, 5/14/2018 – 11:29 am MST