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NHL Insider Reveals Oilers Set to Make Goalie Shakeup as Team Eyes Major Upgrade

Originally posted on Hockey Latest | By Daniel Lucente | Last updated Jun 18, 2025 5:06 PM ET

NHL insider Mark Spector revealed today that the Oilers will likely be replacing Calvin Pickard with a new goaltending option to help Stuart Skinner next season.

Stuart Skinner was on a roll in the playoffs, outdueling some of the league's best goalies in pressure situations, such as Darcy Kuemper, Jake Oettinger and Adin Hill in crunch time, but ultimately fell short once again.

But to win the Final, Sergei Bobrovsky was once more the better man between the pipes, and the Florida Panthers captured the Cup. Oilers GM Stan Bowman is now set to place goaltending at or near the top of his to-do list this summer.

Allegedly, a more experienced, better-quality goalie to push and possibly even replace Skinner is what the team will more than likely seek out.

That would mark the end of Calvin Pickard's time with the Oilers, despite his consistent play of late, per NHL insider Mark Spector.

'I sense the Oilers will go after a better goalie to help Stuart Skinner, may come at the expense of Calvin Pickard.'
- Mark Spector

Change tends to involve compromise, and the Oilers may be forced to give up their trusty backup in order to raise the ceiling in the crease.

One thing to make perfectly clear: an elite goalie will not be coming to Edmonton

The pipe dream situation, a trade for an actual elite such as Igor Shesterkin, Ilya Sorokin, Juuse Saros, or Andrei Vasilevskiy, is not happening. Most of those guys are not in play.

Thatcher Demko is intriguing but injury-plagued. John Gibson? Too injury-plagued to bother.

So the more realistic answer is to pick up a quality veteran such as Scott Wedgewood to split the net with Skinner. The theory here is that competition will bring out better results.

Would Bobrovsky have turned those blowout 6-1 and 5-1 Final defeats around if he were donning an Oilers jersey? Not likely, as this wasn't a goaltending issue, but rather an issue for the entire team.

However, adding a solid tandem may be what will finally propel Edmonton to greatness.

Step one is to strengthen the roster, and step two is to hope someone else eliminates Florida next year to avoid having to possibly face them for a third time in a row.

This article first appeared on Hockey Latest and was syndicated with permission.

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