Last season, the Toronto Blue Jays were one of the worst teams in Major League Baseball.

After making or hovering around the postseason for four straight years prior to 2024, the bottom fell out. Players regressed, the offence from anyone not named Vladimir Guerrero Jr. vanished, and the team finished well out of the playoffs with a 74-88 record. One year later, they have the second-best record in the American League East heading into the final month of the regular season.

If you think I accidentally published a Blue Jays Nation article on Oilersnation, you’d be incorrect. Although I’ve almost done that before, there’s a point to the intro. In the off-season, the Blue Jays made one key change, parting with hitting coach Guillermo Martínez and hiring Dave Popkins. In turn, the offence has blossomed. George Springer went from a below-average hitter in 2024 to one of the best in 2025. Cornerstone shortstop Bo Bichette is having a bounce-back season, and Alejandro Kirk is one of the best catchers in the game. On top of that, the Jays are squeezing offence from all 13 position players.

So what does this have to do with the Edmonton Oilers? The back-to-back Stanley Cup runner-ups also made a notable coaching change, parting ways with goaltending coach Dustin Schwartz and hiring Peter Aubry.

Schwartz was the Oilers’ goaltending coach from 2015-16 through 2024-25, a span in which 12 different netminders played for the team (not counting emergency backup Matt Berlin). Cam Talbot was the primary starter from 2015-16 until midway through 2018-19, when he was traded for Anthony Stolarz. Talbot’s first two seasons were strong before his play fell off a cliff in 2018-19.

Under Schwartz, the Oilers got regular starts from Mikko Koskinen, Mike Smith, Jack Campbell, Stuart Skinner, and Calvin Pickard. The latter two remain, and it looks like the Oilers will head into 2025-26 with Skinner as the starter.

Skinner is a player who could benefit from a change in philosophy. Last season, he finished with a .896 save percentage and a 2.81 goals-against average in 51 games. In the postseason, he was pulled multiple times and finished with a .889 save percentage. There’s a fair argument that the Oilers can’t simply run it back with Skinner, given his playoff dips, especially with Connor McDavid still unsigned, but at his best, Skinner can be a very good netminder.

He was thrust into the starter’s role too soon after Campbell struggled following his 2022 off-season signing. Skinner played 50 games in 2022-23, posting a .913 save percentage and a 2.75 goals-against average, finishing second in Calder Trophy voting and earning spots on the All-Rookie Team and in the All-Star Game.

After a poor start to 2023-24, when the Oilers famously opened 2-9-1, Skinner rebounded to post a .913 save percentage and a 36-11-4 record over his final 51 games. He was a huge part of the near-record 16-game win streak.

Skinner actually started the 2024 postseason well, but struggled badly in the first three games of the second round. After sitting out Games 4 and 5, he posted a .914 save percentage over the next 15 games and finished with a better save percentage than Sergei Bobrovsky in the Stanley Cup Final.

The 26-year-old had a rough 2024-25, and it carried into the first two games of the 2025 playoffs. In Games 1 and 2, he allowed 11 goals on 58 shots (.810), prompting the Oilers to start Pickard for the next six. Once Skinner returned in Game 3 of the second round, he posted a .931 save percentage in eight games, but he struggled again in the Final against Florida. He was hardly alone; the Panthers shut down the Oilers across the board.

While the ideal solution was to acquire a new goalie, there weren’t many options this off-season. The biggest move saw Anaheim trade John Gibson to Detroit for draft picks, and Gibson is not a clear upgrade over Skinner.

At his best, Skinner is an above-average netminder. The challenge is consistency. Time will tell if a new goaltending coach helps him find it more often.