The Edmonton Oilers want to go back to their NHL glory days. They have one of the league’s best players in Connor McDavid but one guy won’t turn the tables around. Therefore, the team wants goalie Stuart Skinner back and a report came out stating how much that may cost the team.
Oilers Nation’s analyst Zach Laing reported that Skinner’s projected contract is a massive five-year deal that would close up to $6.817 million per year. According to Evolving Hockey’s model, this deal being made just holds a 22% chance of happening.
Edmonton finished third in NHL Pacific Division last year with a 48-29-5 record. However, the most devastating blow came in the Stanley Cup finals, where they once again succumbed to the Florida Panthers in six games.
Skinner’s last games were not great
During the Stanley Cup, Skinner was heavily criticized. This is because his stats were worse this postseason than last year’s. He allowed 2.99 goals-against average and .889 save percentage in 15 Stanley Cup playoff games. For reference, in 2023 he allowed 2.45 goals-against and had a .901 save percentage. It was a tangible dip on his output.
Stuart Skinner #74 of the Edmonton Oilers looks on from the bench against the Los Angeles Kings during the third period in Game Two of the First Round of the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Crypto.com Arena on April 23, 2025 in Los Angeles, California.
While he is not as good as the Panthers’ Sergei Bobrovsky right now, Skinner is just 26 years old and based on that projected contract, his market is huge. So, the Oilers have one year before Skinner’s current deal expires to extend him.
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The Oilers cherish Skinner
Oilers general manager Stan Bowman defended Skinner on his end-of-year press conference back in the day. 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.“
Those are big words. Bowman pretty much said Skinner and the Oilers goalies were the main reason why the Oilers almost won the whole thing. With that in mind, Edmonton will try to get a deal done soon enough.
