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Stuart Skinner, Calvin Pickard disappoint as goaltending becomes contentious: 2024-25 Edmonton Oilers player review
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Photo credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
Zach Laing
Aug 3, 2025, 09:00 EDTUpdated: Aug 1, 2025, 15:26 EDT
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Welcome to my annual player review series, where I dive into the Edmonton Oilers season player-by-player. We’ll look back at the season that was, what kind of impact each player had, and what we could see from them next season. You can read about the analytics behind my analysis here.
Has there been a single more contentious item in Edmonton over the last 12 months than that of the goaltending?
The general consensus seems to be that the combination of Stuart Skinner and Calvin Pickard simply aren’t good enough to get the job done. On one hand, that’s more than far to say considering the fact the Oilers have lost two straight Stanley Cup Finals with a .874 save percentage. Yeah, not good enough.
On the other hand one can argue that Skinner and Pickard were reasons the Oilers even got to the Stanley Cup Final in the first place. Pickard stood on his head for a number of games, going 7-1, while Skinner had back-to-back shutouts against the Vegas Golden Knights, and another against the Dallas Stars.
The only problem is the Oilers numbers from their goaltenders got worse in the playoffs, rather than better.
It all begs the question of what could’ve been had the Oilers goaltending been better in the playoffs. Could it have been enough to push them over the top?
There’s no denying something had to give in this department, and the Oilers opted to change out the goaltending coach, replacing the long-tenured Dustin Schwartz with Peter Aubry. It remains to be seen what kind of changes will come from it, but one thing that’s clear is the Oilers belief in Stuart Skinner and Calvin Pickard.
There were options out there for the team in the goaltending department — and something could still change ahead of the season — but Oilers GM Stan Bowman has been ardent in his support of Skinner in the crease.
The Oilers, however, will have some decisions to make within the next 11 months. Next summer both Skinner and Pickard will be unrestricted free agents, and the Oilers are projected to have lots of cap space to utilize, even with plenty of looming extensions.
To put it simply: it’s make-or-break time for Stuart Skinner and the Edmonton Oilers.

STUART SKINNER’S CAREER SO FAR

Season
Team
GP
W
L
OTL
GA
GAA
SA
SV%
SO
PIM
MIN
2019-2020
0
0
0
0
0
0.00
0
.000
0
0
0
2020-2021
1
1
0
0
5
5.00
38
.868
0
0
59
2021-2022
13
6
6
0
32
2.62
367
.913
1
0
734
2022-2023
50
29
14
5
133
2.75
1536
.913
1
0
2903
2023-2024
59
36
16
5
147
2.62
1553
.905
2
0
3361
2024-2025
51
26
18
4
138
2.81
1325
.896
3
0
2942
Totals:
174
98
54
14
455
2.73
4819
.906
7
0
9999

CALVIN PICKARD’S CAREER SO FAR

Season
Team
GP
W
L
OTL
GA
GAA
SA
SV%
SO
PIM
MIN
2014-2015
16
6
7
3
35
2.35
511
.932
0
0
895
2015-2016
20
7
6
1
42
2.56
539
.922
1
0
985
2016-2017
50
15
31
2
140
2.98
1461
.904
2
2
2820
2017-2018
1
0
0
1
4
3.81
28
.857
0
0
62
2018-2019
6
0
4
0
17
3.60
157
.892
0
0
282
2018-2019
11
4
2
2
31
4.01
227
.863
1
2
464
2019-2020
3
0
2
0
15
5.45
74
.797
0
0
164
2020-2021
6
2
1
1
16
3.16
127
.874
0
0
303
2021-2022
3
1
1
0
9
4.29
72
.875
0
0
125
2022-2023
0
0
0
0
0
0.00
0
.000
0
0
0
2023-2024
23
12
7
1
53
2.45
581
.909
1
2
1296
2024-2025
36
22
10
1
85
2.71
849
.900
0
0
1881
Totals:
175
69
71
12
447
2.89
4626
.903
5
0
9277

OTHER PLAYER REVIEWS

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.

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