‘Skinner’s on the clock here’: Oilers won’t wait long if goaltending change is needed

Skinner, 26, is entering his fourth season as the Oilers’ No. 1 goaltender, and each of the previous three years have been more disappointing than the last. He finished second in Calder Trophy voting and was named to both the All-Rookie Team and the All-Star Game in a year that saw him post a 29-14-5 record, 9.12 save percentage and a 2.75 goals against average, saving 14.1 goals above average, according to Hockey Reference.

While he continued to rack up wins in year two, posting a 36-18-5 record, his save percentage dipped to a .905 while his goals saved above average fell to 3.1. And last year, his numbers fell even lower. He posted a 26-18-4 record, a .896 save percentage, a 2.81 goals against average while saving -5.3 goals above average.

Across 50 playoff starts in the last three years, he’s posted a 26-22 record, .892 save percentage, a 2.88 goals against average, while saving -12.5 goals above average.

Despite the Oilers getting deep in the Stanley Cup final two years in a row, one of the defining factors in each series against the Florida Panthers has been goaltending. Simply put: the Oilers aren’t going to wait around and hope things get better.

“He will not be in net for Game 1 of the playoffs if he does not clearly show to the team this year that he’s going to do a better job of handling that than he has in the past,” Rishaug said. “So I’m not going to panic after one game, but.  Don’t panic if you’re an Oiler fan. Stan Bowman’s able to get things done and when he decides that really needs to be done now, it’ll probably get done.”

Cracks have already started to show in Skinner’s first start Wednesday against the Flames, including a game-tying goal he froze on. And as the Oilers prepare to take on the Vancouver Canucks Saturday night, they’ll be turning to Calvin Pickard between the pipes.