Oilers insider defends oft-criticized goalie Stuart Skinner after back-to-back Stanley Cup Final losses

Edmonton Oilers insider Jason Gregor has come to the defense of the team's decision to stick with Stuart Skinner as their number one goalie for next season.

Skinner faced criticism after the Oilers' second consecutive Stanley Cup Finals loss to the Florida Panthers.

In the 2024-25 Stanley Cup Final against the Panthers, Stuart Skinner started the first two games but was pulled in both Game 3 (5 goals) and Game 4 (3 goals). Calvin Pickard took over the net for Game 5, but Skinner returned for Game 6, where he gave up three goals in the loss.

Speaking on a Sportsnet 590 podcast, Gregor pointed out that Skinner played very well in the first three rounds, backstopping the Oilers to easy series wins over Dallas and Vegas.

"I think there's a lot of people that forgot that Edmonton really kind of cruised through the first three rounds after, they had two bad games, and then they went 12-2. They walloped Dallas and Vegas, two really good teams. Like, those series weren't even close," Gregor said.

"And Stu Skinner two years in a row was infinitely better than (Dallas goalie) Jake Oettinger."

While acknowledging that Florida's Sergei Bobrovsky outplayed Skinner in the Finals, Gregor doesn't believe the Oilers need to make a reactionary move to replace their young goalie.

"He's not Bobrovsky, right? So Florida was had the better goalie in the final no question about that. So I think that they will look, I think they're going to make a change to their goalie coach." Gregor said.

Gregor speculated the Oilers could bring in a new goalie coach to work with Skinner, but he doesn't foresee the team spending big money on a veteran replacement like New Jersey's Jake Allen.

He felt that Skinner actually improved during the playoffs. He pointed out that while Skinner didn’t give up many weak goals — aside from a bad rebound on the third goal in Game 6 — what hurt him was his inability to deliver the big, timely saves.

Jason Gregor on Stuart Skinner's playoff experience

At just 26 years old, Stuart Skinner has already amassed an impressive 50 career playoff games under his belt, boasting a 2.88 goals-against average and .893 save percentage. As Gregor points out,

"He's (Skinner) a young goalie at 26 there's only seven goalies in the NHL who are younger than Skinner and played more than 20 games last year, seven and those guys have a combined three playoff games. Skinner has 50 right like he's still a young goalie."

While Stuart Skinner may not be at the level of elite netminders like Sergei Bobrovsky, Gregor notes that the Oilers are not built to have their goalie steal games for them everytime. Skinner has, however, managed to steal some important victories for the team along the way.