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Stuart Skinner, Calvin Pickard disappoint as goaltending becomes contentious: 2024-25 Edmonton Oilers player review

Originally posted on Oilersnation | By Zach Laing | Last updated Aug 3, 2025 9:00 AM ET

Welcome to my annual player review series, where I dive into the Edmonton Oilers season player-by-player. We’ll look back at the season that was, what kind of impact each player had, and what we could see from them next season. You can read about the analytics behind my analysis here.

Has there been a single more contentious item in Edmonton over the last 12 months than that of the goaltending?

The general consensus seems to be that the combination of Stuart Skinner and Calvin Pickard simply aren’t good enough to get the job done. On one hand, that’s more than far to say considering the fact the Oilers have lost two straight Stanley Cup Finals with a .874 save percentage. Yeah, not good enough.

On the other hand one can argue that Skinner and Pickard were reasons the Oilers even got to the Stanley Cup Final in the first place. Pickard stood on his head for a number of games, going 7-1, while Skinner had back-to-back shutouts against the Vegas Golden Knights, and another against the Dallas Stars.

The only problem is the Oilers numbers from their goaltenders got worse in the playoffs, rather than better.

Via The Nation Network

It all begs the question of what could’ve been had the Oilers goaltending been better in the playoffs. Could it have been enough to push them over the top?

There’s no denying something had to give in this department, and the Oilers opted to change out the goaltending coach, replacing the long-tenured Dustin Schwartz with Peter Aubry. It remains to be seen what kind of changes will come from it, but one thing that’s clear is the Oilers belief in Stuart Skinner and Calvin Pickard.

There were options out there for the team in the goaltending department — and something could still change ahead of the season — but Oilers GM Stan Bowman has been ardent in his support of Skinner in the crease.

The Oilers, however, will have some decisions to make within the next 11 months. Next summer both Skinner and Pickard will be unrestricted free agents, and the Oilers are projected to have lots of cap space to utilize, even with plenty of looming extensions.

To put it simply: it’s make-or-break time for Stuart Skinner and the Edmonton Oilers.