On Friday, December 12, 2025, the Edmonton Oilers moved on from starting goaltender Stuart Skinner. It was clear that Oilers management did not believe their No. 1 goaltender to be the right player to carry them to a championship.
They paid a premium, including a 2029 second round draft pick, as well as aging defenseman Brett Kulak. Tristan Jarry, former Edmonton Oil King, was the goaltender coming the other way and, it seemed, a player Oilers GM Stan Bowman viewed as an upgrade over Skinner.
At a glance, both goaltenders are similar players. Competent NHL netminders, but a step below what most would consider elite. Both had successful junior careers, with a Western Hockey League (WHL) championship appearing on each goalie's resume. Skinner's career save percentage sits at 0.903, while Jarry, with a few more years in the league, sits at 0.907. Neither has their name on the Stanley Cup as a starter, although Jarry does have two rings.
Big in Big moments
There's a lot to debate when examining Stuart Skinner's playoff results. The offensively gifted Oilers are capable of winning many 5-4 games, but it's worth noting that a high scoring 1-goal game is just as close to a loss as a 1-0 shutout. When the Oilers twice went up against a Florida Panther defense capable of limiting their scoring, Skinner wasn't able to tighten up his own game, and so he shares a portion of the responsibility for the resulting Cup losses.
Jarry, in spite of his age, and a career played with Sidney Crosby's Pittsburgh Penguins, somehow has virtually no playoff appearances to his name. His single series as a starting netminder was a 2-4 result, a first round loss to the New York Islanders, where Jarry posted an unspectacular 0.888 GAA. Skinner has significantly more games played, and even his underwhelming postseason from 2024-25 sits slightly ahead of Jarry at 0.889.
It isn't clear why a premium was required in this deal. The biggest difference between the two goaltenders is their contract situation. Skinner is an unrestricted free agent as of this summer, while Jarry is signed for the next two years. The 2029 draft is far away, and the team won't really miss that future player during its current championship window, but the cost of a deal is the cost of the deal.
Not good enough to be the best
As we have watched a succession of differing Oiler GMs send draft picks out the door for middling or moderate roster improvements, the question has to be "Why?" Elite players move at every deadline. Brad Marchand, a major reason for the Panthers successful Cup defense, went from the Boston Bruins, for a similar return as Trent Frederic. Sharper minds and pencils managing other franchises have found better solutions, and the results for Edmonton fans have been long post-season runs ending in near misses.
Jesper Wallstedt is clearly available. Not only does he have a lower cap hit, but his statistics show him to be a better option in virtually every area. Here is a comparison against Skinner, and here is the same comparison versus Jarry. Jarry's single advantage over Wallstedt is High Danger Save percentage, an admittedly important statistic, but an outlier in that it's the only place one can argue that Wallstedt wouldn't be an upgrade.
The Minnesota Wild goalie is only one of the potential options available. It seems highly unlikely, with the trade deadline barely 24 hours away, that Edmonton will revisit their goaltending situation. One can only hope that upgrades in other areas will have a net effect of improving goals against.