The 2023-24 season was a big one for Edmonton Oilers goaltender Stuart Skinner. It marked his first year at the NHL level where, at the very least, everyone knew he would receive roughly half the starts. That was a big change from a year prior, where, despite winding up being the number-one option, he began as a backup to Jack Campbell.
Any thoughts of Skinner being a part of a 50/50 tandem quickly evaporated when Campbell was sent to the American Hockey League in early November. Skinner wound up playing a career-high 59 games, putting together an impressive 36-16-5 record. The big question, however, was how he would fare in the playoffs.
Skinner struggled in his prior playoff run, and was to many the biggest reason why the Oilers fell to the Vegas Golden Knights in the second round. Things didn’t go swimmingly early into this year’s postseason, as he had a few hiccups versus the LA Kings and wound up being relegated to the backup role in two games against the Vancouver Canucks.
Skinner ended up getting the net back a short time later, and was up to the challenge in both the Western Conference and Stanley Cup Final. Though the Oilers fell short, he proved to everyone that he has what it takes to lead this team to a championship.
Oilers Will Be a Dominate Force
The Oilers have already been a very good NHL team for the last several seasons, but look even better heading into 2024-25. They were able to bring back several pending free agents, while also making some big additions up front thanks to the signings of Jeff Skinner and Viktor Arvidsson.
This will not only be the most talented team Skinner has played on, but will be the first season that he is undeniably the number-one option in the crease. No longer having the doubt of whether or not he is the guy should serve as plenty of motivation to the level-headed Edmonton native, and will be very beneficial to the Oilers as a whole.
What many people also seem to forget is that Skinner is still very young. Goaltenders often take a lot longer to develop than forwards and defencemen. A perfect example is Anthony Stolarz, who just a few years ago was a fringe NHLer, but this offseason at the age of 30 inked a two-year, $5 million deal with the Toronto Maple Leafs and is expected to compete for the starting position.
Skinner, meanwhile, is just 25 years old. His best years are still ahead of him, which bodes well for an Oilers team that has an opportunity to compete for several years depending on how some of their contract situations play out.
As mentioned, however, this current season is where Skinner could do some real damage. With Calvin Pickard behind him, we could see him appear in as many as 65 games. He should be expected to win at least 45 of those given the talent he’s playing behind, which would place him ahead of Cam Talbot (42) for the most wins by an Oilers goalie in a single season.
To put into comparison just how impressive 45-plus wins would be, Alexander Georgiev led all goalies this past season with 38. The last time any goalie had more than 40 wins came in 2017-18, where Connor Hellebuyck and Andrei Vasilevskiy each had 44, while Pekka Rinne had 42. Meanwhile, the last goalie to win 45 or more was Braden Holtby, who picked up 48 in 2015-16.
Wins, of course, aren’t generally a big factor in the consideration for the Vezina Trophy. That said, if Skinner can win at least 45 games this season, while posting a reasonable stat line along the lines of a 2.40 goals-against average (GAA) and a .915 save percentage (SV%) he will absolutely be considered. With how dominant the team in front of him figures to be, he has a strong chance to do just that.
