Edmonton Oilers News

Home

Quizzes

Newsletter

Calvin Pickard, Edmonton Oilers (Photo by Andy Devlin/NHLI via Getty Images)

Oilers’ Playoff Goalie Deployment Indicates Future Plans

Originally posted on The Hockey Writers
By Jackson Scherger | Last updated Apr 25, 2025 3:45 PM ET

It hasn’t been the start to the playoffs the Oilers imagined for themselves. Back-to-back losses on the road in Los Angeles while surrendering six goals in each game is not ideal. While the offense has been able to produce fairly well so far, the defense has all but completely collapsed. The brunt of the blame has fallen on the goaltending, which signals questions about what the future in net could look like for Edmonton.

Defense is one of the main issues that needs to be addressed for the Oilers to do anything productive in the playoffs, but it starts with the goalies. Despite a great previous playoffs, the goaltending has seemed to slip ever since.

Not the Best Season for Skinner and Pickard

The Oilers’ goaltenders certainly didn’t help themselves this season when it came to campaigning to keep their current jobs into the future. Stuart Skinner posted a 26-18-4 record with a subpar .896 save percentage (SV%) and 2.81 goals against average (GAA). Meanwhile, Calvin Pickard had a 22-10-1 record with an even .900 SV% and 2.71 GAA. Pickard’s stats are pretty good considering he was the backup for most of the season, but considering he took over as the starter at times, they aren’t that dazzling either.

Pickard took over in net when Skinner went down late in the season with a concussion. This not only didn’t help Skinner’s regular season stats, but a recent injury probably isn’t helping his playoff performance either. Of course, health wasn’t the team’s strong suit down the stretch.

The Oilers’ goaltending ranked 19th in the league this season in both SV% and goals against. That is not where you want to be going into the playoffs. And because their regular-season play didn’t help their cases much, it sets up the postseason to be the determining factor if they are the guys to lead the team all the way back to the Stanley Cup Final.

What These Playoffs Have Shown So Far

What we’ve seen so far in these playoffs is not good. While Pickard has only seen a bit of relief action towards the end of Game 2, Skinner has been going through a rough time. Posting one of the worst SV% among starters at .810, Skinner has allowed 11 goals in just two games and is under fire from a lot of impatient Oilers fans.

Something interesting is that head coach Kris Knoblauch elected to put Pickard in for the last half of the third period in Game 2. While at that point the game was basically out of reach for Edmonton, it also seems Knoblauch wanted to get a look at what Pickard could do. He may have been testing the waters with his backup goalie before ultimately making the decision to start him in Game 3 and perhaps beyond.

The next two home games will not only be crucial for Edmonton to stay alive in the series, but also for Pickard and Skinner and prove their worth to a team that is desperate to compete while their contention window is still open. If they can’t prove they can steal a game or two for the team, they may be looking for new homes. If only one of them steps up, the other could be on the way out.

The Possibilities

If the Oilers duck out of the postseason early this year, change could be coming. They have given both goalies time to work things out, specifically Skinner, but not much has changed. Unless the team can win the Stanley Cup this year, there is change on the horizon in net.

Oilers management has a couple different options in terms of changing things up in the crease, but no option is easy. The goalie free agent market does not offer a lot, especially considering the top names one there will likely be retained by their clubs (or retire, such as Marc-Andre Fleury), making a trade may be even more difficult. Teams would know how desperate Edmonton is to upgrade in goal, and a good goalie is hard to come by, so most teams would have a high asking price for anything the Oilers want.

The next few days will be important for both the team and their netminders in seeing what the future holds. If Skinner or Pickard can’t step up, this offseason could be a big one for general manager Stan Bowman and company.