As he enters the final year of a contract that carries a $2.6-million cap hit, there are two ways of evaluating whether the Edmonton Oilers should make a long-term commitment to Stuart Skinner.
On one hand, there were 38 other goalies (who played in at least 20 games) who had a better save percentage than Skinner last season. But in the past two years combined, only Florida’s Sergei Bobrovsky has won more games in the playoffs.
In other words, deciding what to do with Skinner and the Oilers' goaltending, in general is not an easy decision — especially when you factor in how many other goalies have come to Edmonton and failed to find success.
“He’s dealing with pressures that nobody else is dealing with,” former NHL goalie Devan Dubnyk, who spent the first five years of his career with the Oilers and now runs a goalie mentorship program called Dubnyk Development, told The Big Show this week. “That’s part of the territory that you deal with in playing for a Canadian market. He’s done a really, really impressive job of handling it.”
Skinner might not be anyone’s pick to win the Vezina Trophy, but he has guided Edmonton to back-to-back appearances in the Stanley Cup final. That's something that neither Cam Talbot, Mikko Koskinen, Mike Smith or Jack Campbell can say.
“Skinner’s got more playoff experience than three-quarters of the league is ever going to have,” said Dubnyk, who added that Skinner is also just hitting his prime.
“We forget that he’s a young goalie,” he said. “It feels like he’s been there a long time. But he’s only 26 years old and should be entering the peak years of his career right now.”
The Hockey News Big Show: Devan Dubnyk On The Mental Side, Stuart Skinner, Sergei Bobrovsky And MoreThe Hockey News Big Show has a special guest on this summer episode: longtime NHL netminder Devan Dubnyk, who launched Dubnyk Development.That experience hasn’t always been positive.
Skinner, who went 26-18-4 in the regular season, was so shaky in the first round of this year's playoffs that he was pulled after allowing 11 goals in Games 1 and 2 against Los Angeles. It took an injury in the second round to backup Calvin Pickard, who had gone 6-0, for Skinner to eventually reclaim his net.
To Skinner's credit, he posted back-to-back shutouts against Vegas and allowed 10 goals in five games against Dallas, before losing to Florida again in the final.
“Do you know how easy it would have been to fold the tent there?" Dubnyk said of Skinner's performance when Pickard got hurt. "The amount of pressure that was going into the next game and he pulls back-to-back shutouts. Like that is an impressive feat, because that was such an impossible scenario to come in with Pickard being the local hero.”
Unfortunately for Skinner, he was unable to be the hero as the Oilers lost 4-2 in a best-of-seven series to Florida. The back-to-back losses in the final led to suggestions that the Oilers should spend the summer finding an upgrade for Skinner or at the very least someone to come and share the net with him.
So far, however, the team has decided to roll things back with its two goalies.
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“For Oilers fans it was as frustrating as it was, because they wanted to see something happening with the goaltending," said Dubnyk. "But you have to take a step back and look at it. You don’t want to rush into making a decision just to make a decision.
"If you’re going to get a backup goalie to replace Pickard, well that’s tricky, too. it has to be somebody who is significantly better who is almost on par with Skinner that’s going to be an option to take over. You don’t just replace Pickard to replace Pickard, because what’s the guy done for you. He’s a great teammate. The guy loves him, they play hard in front of him and he was 7-1 in the playoffs as a backup goalie in the Stanley Cup final.
"What else are you going to ask of your backup goalie? There’s not a goalie on the planet who’s going to give you 7-1 in the playoffs.”
And yet, Dubnyk believes that the Oilers are not done.
After all, when you have a team that includes Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, you aren't just expected to reach the final. Eventually, you need to win.
“I think they’ll do something to upgrade the goaltending," he said. "I hate saying that because I love Picks. If that’s the case, I hope he goes somewhere we he can play. I wouldn’t be surprised early on if Edmonton can get someone who can push Skinner.”
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