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Oilers GM Defends Team Goalies After Second Stanley Cup Loss

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Antonio Losada | Last updated Jun 21, 2025 8:19 AM ET

The Edmonton Oilers fell short in the Stanley Cup Final for the second straight year to the Florida Panthers, but general manager Stan Bowman isn’t blaming the crease.

Despite a postseason save percentage of .888 across Stuart Skinner and Calvin Pickard, Bowman argued that Edmonton’s goaltending gave them an edge in three of four rounds.

"Just this playoff run is a perfect example," Bowman said. "In three of the four rounds, we had better goaltending than our opponent. You look at (Los Angeles Kings' Darcy) Kuemper, (Vegas Golden Knights goalie) Adin Hill, and (Dallas Stars' Jake) Oettinger, our goalies were better than theirs in each of those series."

"I think that’s the reason we went to the final."

"This was a great season. We fell short but we did a lot of great things. There's 30 other teams that would trade with where we were."

GM Stan Bowman & Head Coach Kris Knoblauch spoke today to reflect on the #Oilers season & playoff run.@Enterprise | #LetsGoOilers pic.twitter.com/8hUdaxpEqo
— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) June 20, 2025

Edmonton's tandem was outplayed by Florida Panthers netminder Sergei Bobrovsky in the Final, and Bowman acknowledged his greatness.

"I'm not disputing that in the final Bobrovsky was excellent," Bowman said. "He made a lot of big saves when we had chances early in games, and we didn't get the lead."

"Credit to him, or our players needed to pick the corners better. Like, it's one of the two."

For those asking for a change between the Oilers' pipes, Bowman pointed to the limited supply of elite options league-wide as the reason it's going to be hard to upgrade in net.

“The way the reality of the world is, it’s not like you just go down to the corner and pick up an elite goalie,” Bowman said. “They’re not just waiting for you to join your team, right? How many are there anyway in that group?”

The general manager, however, admitted changes will happen and impact the roster, mostly regarding the forward lines and possibly the goalie rotation.

“We’re going to examine not just our goalies, but our whole team,” Bowman said. “It could involve the goaltending, it could not.”

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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