Fans of the Edmonton Oilers have begged and pleaded for changes to be made within the club's crease for the past two off-seasons. The temperature was turned up even more after the shakiness of starting goalie Stuart Skinner during the National Hockey League (NHL) playoffs.
The Oilers criticism for years has been their lack of depth and poor defensive play, as well as their play in net. Although there certainly have been criticisms of all of these recently, the former two seem to be diminishing while the latter is amplified.
Looking ahead to the upcoming season, the Oilers goaltenders are the position with the most scrutiny.
The Oilers face pressure entering the season
The 2025-26 season is around the corner and the stakes have arguably never been greater. As evidenced by the talk surrounding captain and star Connor McDavid entering the campaign without a contract extension. Fellow star Leon Draisaitl signed his last September while Evan Bouchard, who was set to hit July 1st as a Restricted Free Agent (RFA) opted to sign his deal before he hit the market.
The same as of right now, cannot be said for McDavid. The talk around him not feeling confident in the projection of the Oilers to commit puts a lot of pressure on the players, the coaching staff, and the front office. This is even worsened by the team's failure to capitalize on two straight Stanley Cup Finals berths, seeing them on the wrong side of the handshake line in back-to-back seasons.
General manager Stan Bowman, in his first full off-season at the helm, opted to run it back with the same goaltending tandem of Skinner and backup Calvin Pickard. The only personnel change that is expected to impact the NHL roster is signing Matt Tomkins to be the team's third-string netminder.
He did however make changes behind the bench with new assistant coaches and replacing longtime goaltending coach Dustin Schwartz -- to the excitement of fans -- with former Chicago Blackhawks goalie coach, Peter Aubry. A man that Bowman knows well from their time in the windy city.
Peter Aubry brings experience and a different voice
Aubry has a long resume, having worked behind the bench as an assistant coach and associate coach at the NCAA level and from 2015-16 to 2022-23 at the American Hockey League (AHL) and NHL level with the Blackhawks and Rockford IceHogs as their goaltending coach.
Through his time with the Blackhawks and IceHogs he has worked with many different goaltenders, many of whom have went on to have decent NHL careers. He worked closely with notable goaltenders such as: Corey Crawford, Scott Darling, Collin Delia, Cam Ward, Robin Lehner, Matt Tomkins, Anton Forsberg, Malcolm Subban, Kevin Lankinen, Arvid Soderblom, Marc-Andre Fleury, Petr Mrazek, and more.
He now has the opportunity to impart his wisdom and expertise onto Skinner and Pickard, hopefully for the betterment of them as players and the team as a whole. Many people say 'change for change's sake' is never a good idea but there is some utility to having a different voice and set of eyes on an issue.
It is unclear at this stage whether Aubry is the right man for the job but the familiarity that Oilers GM Bowman has with him and with his laundry list of goaltenders he has worked with and helped develop, it is worth a shot.
Skinner entered Oilers training camp in great shape
One notch on Aubry's belt already was the hype surrounding the Oilers staring goalie coming to camp in great shape and with heaps of praise from pundits and beat reporters. One notable member of the media was Oilers reporter Bob Stauffer on his OilersNOW show on September 12.
Stauffer said "Stuart Skinner looks completely different. He looks quicker, more agile, and, when you see him up close, it’s obvious he’s dropped some weight." This set up high expectations for the netminder, who has been under intense scrutiny all summer.
Through 15 games in the Stanley Cup Playoffs in 2024-25, Skinner held a mediocre record of 7-7-0, with a 2.99 goals against average (GAA) and a .889 save percentage. This inconsistent play caused the Oilers staff to flip between him and Pickard at times -- who struggled in his own right.
The 33 year old veteran had a much better record with a 7-1-0, his 2.85 GAA and .886 save percentage told a much less positive story.
Oilers GM doubled down on this goaltending tandem
Although the comments from Bowman have not been resounding votes of confidence, actions speak louder than words and his inactivity between the pipes spoke volumes. There were plenty of goaltenders available, even despite the lack of star power for the position in the free agent market.
Plenty of buy low goaltenders have signed for cheap as free agency has went on or have been dealt for cheap throughout the summer. After the Vancouver Canucks locked up their tandem of Thatcher Demko and Kevin Lankinen, they dealt Arturs Silovs to the Pittsburgh Penguins for a prospect and fourth round pick in 2027.
The 24 year old Silovs has been a bit of a rising goaltending prospect in recent years winning the IIHF World Championship MVP in 2023 and the AHL playoff MVP en route to a Calder Cup Championship in 2025. There was also Connor Ingram who was left unclaimed on waivers last week.
These are only two examples but with plenty of names being moved around, the front office in Oil Country stood pat.
Oilers Goaltending must be better
On a more optimistic note, the Oilers goaltending can and should be better than last season. Skinner had a .913 save percentage in 50 games back in 2022-23 and a .905 in 2023-24 with a .604 and .614 quality start percentage in those seasons, respectively (according to hockey-reference.com). Last year, his quality start dipped down to a middling .500. If he can revert back to his numbers in 2023-24 and 2024-25, the Oilers will be in a much better place between the pipes.
Pickard on the other hand has been a stabilizing force in the regular season with a .909 and .900 save percentage in the past two seasons, respectively. He has had an even better .500 and .677 quality start percentage. At 33 and without a long track record as a full time NHL goalie, he may see some regression but if he can keep his save percentage above .900 and quality starts above .500, he should be okay.
Oilers management has shown a lot of trust in this tandem and if the goalies reward them, it is for the best. However, given the stakes this year, I would expect no hesitation if they falter for the brass to make a move by the 2026 NHL Trade Deadline.
The Oilers need to treat this year as cup or bust and they cannot allow goaltending to be the thing that sinks this ship.