Is fatigue with Stuart Skinner really a genuine concern for the Oilers?

Jim Parsons of NHL Trade Talk recently wrote, about how Stuart Skinner was at risk of having a fatigue issue this coming season. The brief of overview, was the goalie has played a lot of hockey these past two seasons, and the Edmonton Oilers need to manage his playing time during the 2024-25 campaign.

Now of course, in theory there is a risk of Skinner suffering from fatigue, but what about in practice? Well, we're glad you asked.

The 25-year-old certainly was among the top goalies when it came to starts in 2023-24, ranking fifth with 57 starts. Juuse Saros led the way with 64, Alexander Georgiev was second with 62, Connor Hellebuyck third on 60, Sergei Bobrovsky fourth on 58 and Igor Shesterkin tied sixth, with 55.

Now certainly none of the other five goalies suffered in helping their teams rack up the points, with Saros' Nashville Predators 'worst' on 99 regular season points. Georgiev's Colorado Avalanche had 107, Bobrovsky's Florida Panthers and Hellebuyck's Winnipeg Jets finished with 110 apiece, while Shesterkin's New York Rangers led the pack with 114.

Just win baby

As Oilers fans will well know, Skinner and his teammates had 104 points. However, what about looking at each of the goalie's individual winning statistics?

Well based on just wins by starting netminders with a big workload, Skinner finished tied third on 36 wins, along with Bobrovsky and Shesterkin. Georgiev led the way with 38 wins, Hellebuyck was second with 37 and Saros was sixth, with 35.

If you look further into what each goalie accomplished, Bobrovsky won the Stanley Cup with the Panthers, while Hellebuyck took home the Vezina Trophy, with both also being named All-Stars. Shesterkin was also named an All-Star and helped the Rangers claim the Presidents' Trophy, while Skinner did help the Oilers advance to the Stanley Cup Final, before they lost in seven games.

2022-23 and 2023-24 combined

Now one season of a heavy workload certainly didn't stop each of the goalies mentioned from having strong success, including Skinner. However, the concern is that the Oilers netminder has had to carry the load for two consecutive seasons.

This was in large part down to Jack Campbell just not panning out as Ken Holland and company expected/hoped. Fortunately for the Oilers, Skinner proved more than capable of stepping up to the challenge.

As such, let's now take a look at the Edmonton native's combined statistics for the past two seasons. For a start, his 105 starts are 11th-most in the NHL over the time period in question; still a lot but not that bad.

Regardless of this, Skinner certainly enjoyed more than his fair share of success, with his 65 wins ranking sixth among all NHL goalies. And it's not as if it was just a case of the Oilers having to regularly outscore opponents in high-scoring contests, as evidenced by his .910 save percentage and 2.68 Goals Against Average.

In this respect, the likes of Bobrovsky, Hellebuyck, Shesterkin, Georgiev and Saros are all in the top 10 for most starts these past two seasons. They're also all in the top 10 for most wins, ironically with only Bobrovsky below Skinner out of the six, on 60 wins.

Let's add one more season

Now if we go back a season further, Skinner drops right out of it due to only 12 starts in 2021-22. Georgiev also falls away due to just 28 starts -- with the Rangers -- but the other four are all still up there, in four of the top eight places for most starts between 2021-22 and this past season.

Turn to wins again and the picture is once more very telling, with Shesterkin first on 109 wins and Saros second with 106. Then you find Hellebuyck tied third with 103 wins, Bobrovsky is sixth with 99 wins and wouldn't you know it, Georgiev is right behind him in seventh place on 93 wins, despite his limited workload in 2021-22. (For what it's worth, Skinner is 18th with 71 wins.)

The point in all of this is that if you have a quality goalie, you ride him. And the success of the other five netminders in this article, clearly show that a heavier workload has not stopped them all from being continually and consistently successful.

Consider that between them they have two Vezinas (Shesterkin won in 2022), two Presidents' Trophies (Bobrovsky and the Panthers won in 2022) and eight All-Star selections; nine if you include Skinner's in 2023. And aside from this past season's Stanley Cup Final matchup between Skinner and Bobrovsky, the latter also made it there the season before, when the Panthers lost to the Vegas Golden Knights.

Overall, yes Calvin Pickard has proven himself deserving of being the backup goalie and getting his opportunities. However, if anything, the main thing which will slow down Skinner is not fatigue, but if he continues to suffer from bouts of inconsistency.

N.B. All statistics taken from NHL.com

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