The Edmonton Oilers head into the offseason with questions in net, but the reality is—they might not be able to make a meaningful upgrade. Despite fan calls for change, the current free agent and trade market for goaltenders lacks a clear, reliable upgrade over Stuart Skinner. With few proven starters available and high prices attached to the top names, the Oilers may be forced to stick with what they have and focus their offseason resources elsewhere.
Today, Devan Dubnyk joined Tyler and Liam to break down the state of the goalie market, discussed why a big move in net might not be realistic this summer, and debated whether running it back with Skinner is the best path forward given the team’s cap situation and other priorities.
Do you think there is a upgrade at goaltending on the Market?
Website: https://oilersnation.com/
https://twitter.com/OilersNation/
https://www.youtube.com/@Oilersnationdotcom/
https://www.facebook.com/OilersNation/
https://www.instagram.com/oilersnationdotcom
@oilersnation
SHOUTOUT TO OUR SPONSORS!!
👍🏼 Powered by @bet365. Whatever the moment, it’s Never Ordinary at bet365. Download the App today and use promo code: NATION. http://www.bet365.ca/
👍🏼 GRETA BAR https://www.gretabar.com/locations/edmonton
👍🏼 Odd Company Brewing: https://www.oddcompany.ca/
👍🏼 Alberta Teachers’ Association: https://www.stoptheexcuses.ca/
👍🏼 Charm Diamond Centres: https://charmdiamondcentres.com/
👍🏼 Sherwood Ford: https://www.sherwoodford.ca/nation-valet-service
👍🏼 Sports Closet: https://sportscloset.ca/
👍🏼 Litco Law: https://litcolaw.com
👍🏼 Budweiser: https://www.budweiser.ca/ca_en
👍🏼 Star Mechanical: https://starmechanical.ca/
Reach out to sales@thenationnetwork.com to connect with our Sales Team and discuss opportunities to partner with us!
Visit www.nationgear.ca for merch and more.
#Oilers #EdmontonOilers #NHL #OilersNation #Hockey #ConnorMcDavid #LeonDraisaitl #StuartSkinner #EvanderKane #StanleyCup
33 Comments
Stu and pickard they are good but we need the Best goalie or better goalie that can do finish line. Stu lover its been two consecutive year proved us he is not the guy.
..if Connor and Leon worked for 10 million ea…Swaymans. your net minder…goalies are usually a reflection of the teams defensive core…so..Skinner behind a better defense…who knows…
To Stu’s defense, the first two goals in Game 6 started with Evan Bouchard turnovers, and that’s where the game began to slip. Blaming Skinner for those goals is missing the point. You can’t hang your goalie out to dry on breakdowns like that and expect miracles. And on that second goal, Bouchard didn’t even try to clear Lundell’s screen — just stood there like Sleeping Beauty, watching from the side. You can’t take a nap in front of your own net during the Stanley Cup Final. That’s not defense — that’s a liability.
Every goalie but the following would be an upgrade on Skinner: Arvid Soderblom, the corpse of Marc Andre fleury, Ville Huso. That is all
You get an upgrade on Skinner "when" that goalie becomes available. You shake the bushes in the off season with every single goalie in the league that fits the bill. If a deal can be done? Great. If not? Its a long season. We can start the year with Pickard and Skinner no issue with that if the right deal isn't there. But as we all know things happen in season goalies emerge as starters and that sometimes makes the incumbent #1 expendable. Theres more work to be done with this team. The Bottom 6 needs 2-3 new players. I'd be looking to move Nurse as well (not likely a deal to be made there) but IF there was any possibility I would make that deal. He can be replaced with a $6 mill D man and we can use the extra 3.
The fact that pickards name keeps coming up than maybe stu goes and we know we have a bit of a safety net at the highest level of competition. So if we do get a stu replacement and it doesn’t pan out fully we have picks and then the following year look at it again like the jack Campbell situation. Did it hurt us yes but we still managed to get two cup finals. Easier said than done but we gotta take a risk at some point and learn from our previous mistakes. We need a goalie that’s more consistent I love stu but he’s kinda Mike smith 2.0 who was great especially when our d was laughable but letting in stinkers and being seemingly more inconsistent than other top teams goalies minus Dallas… Also if we don’t get better in goal who knows mcdavid might not be impressed.. We do need to fix it tho. Having Roddy as a third isn’t the worst thing ever as well as a potential new back up so there’s options. I stay trade stu to a smaller market once we find a guy and Dustin gets replaced and go from there. We don’t need Savoie and or Noah right now they are incredible traded peices so maybe one goes and clearly rv but we need money for bouch and such so it’s not easy but has to been done. Sick of this goalie talk
If you cannot accurately clarify how and why you lost to the Panthers 2 years in a row ,but were able to snuff out 30 other Teams…..then you have no business giving up on Skinner or making any Player Asset moves at all….when you are in the Finals 2 years in a row you have all the right People in all the right places already so you remain steady…the Oilers need to make System changes to better support their goalies whoever they are an to allow them the Identity and ability to play 360degree Hockey and challenge the Panthers . The Panthers won because the have and use a better System, the 3-Layer Forecheck the Panthers use is a core value Pillar of their System and Knoblauch and Coffey were not able to solve them again in 2025. Oilers need a Tactical Systems Analyst and the best there is happens to be Moma2. I can see a 3rd meeting between the Oilers and Panthers because this reminds me of the Islanders and Oilers the Teams Stages of development are in different Eras but are very very similar, the Oilers are about to rip the Torch out of the Panthers hands.
Demko is the only real upgrade, but can he stay healthy?
elite goaltender is not always a must, like Adin Hill, Matt Murray. but I don't think Oilers can win SC with Skinner, not going to happen. and Oilers have Connor McDavid, so every year has to be a roster adequate to win SC. it is a difficult situation in this market, bc I dont know a surefire solution. maybe Gibson, or Silovs is interesting.
Stu might be the goalie Edmonton oilers needs ngl
I want that awesome goalie out of Buffalo. He's got potential, super athletic
Agreed but unfortunately the oilers like to rush there young players. Skinner has the potential to be a good goaltender but he needs some real competition. Not knocking on pics, But oilers have to have more balance. Being an old team back to back there definitely needs to be some changes
I sure hope Darth Vladar does not become an Oiler but i do think He is the best UFA…i know a lot do not agree.
Need sorokin or saros
WHY isn't anyone considering a up and coming goalie someone like Arthur Silovs in Vancouver. I can't believe that Patrick Allvin is actually considering giving Thatcher Demko an extension contract. Vancouver already signed Kevin Lankinen . Something has to give in that Vancouver crease it's too crowded. Also why wouldn't Stan Bowman call Chicago and see if they could entice their GM in trading Spencer Knight. Spencer Knight or Arthur Silovs would be excellent goalies in pushing Stu Skinner to actually compete for the starters role imo. Joseph Woll in Toronto is another. Speaking of pipe dreams never likely to happen I hear Brandon Carlo might be available. There's a right shot defender who would be perfect in the second pairing imo. IT is time for Stan Bowman to make some bold possibly unpopular trades and move on some well liked veterans. Sorry but this is going to really unpopular but how can this team justify two 35 year old veterans who eat up 10 million in cap space. Either Ekholm goes or trade the younger Walman same trade Adam Henrique and possibly Janmark. Bring in a Andrew Mangiapane. I still would love to have gotten Sean Durzi or Brandon Montour. Rasmus Anderson is like those other dmen that I mentioned earlier another quality all round right shot defenseman that this Oilers desperately needs instead of stocking up fringe players like Ty Emberson or Troy Strecher or Josh Brown. Talk about a band aid roster construction. 😢
I would seriously rather have a 39 year old Dubnyk than a 26 year old Skinner.
Well if Arturs Silovs clears waivers yet Vancouver doesn’t resign him, there’s the Oilers’ chance to fix the goaltending issue.
The problem is that the goaltenders get blamed when defense plays the puck not the man
Keep the goalies, get rid of the goalie coach! He has old ideas, and every goalie he’s coached has gotten worse under him, it’s the clear answer here
Get! Rid! Of! DUSTIN!!!!!! SCHWARTZ!!!!!!!!
I’m not against making the right move at the right time for a stud or hot prospect but I really think this panic is overblown. I think at least see how the season plays out with Stu and what teams are sellers by the deadline.
We’ve made two straight cup finals spending like $4million on our goaltending. It could be much better but in my view it’s clearly second or third priority. The Oilers gave up countless goals due to turnovers, loose pinches allowing breakaways and that goal against Vegas with .4 seconds left with 4 Oilers and 1 VGK in the picture pretty much sums up what the problems are.
Oilers gave up on Devan and look what he did with Minnesota
Skinner is good enough. He just needs a flex coach. Demko is better than your second keeper. Xhekaj is the guy Edmonton needs to get to top cup.
Oilers should trade Evan Bouchard and Stewart Skinner for Jordan Binnington,
then trade Nurse (eat 40% of his contract to make it possible)
3 defensive liabilities gone
Current Salary Cap: 2024-25: $88 million
Projected: 2027-28: $113.5 million
That's $25.5 million extra. They can better. No excuses.
I think it was more the offence was lacking because of the low depth scoring on our team. Panthers had more depth, specially on their third line (darn Marchand lol). Panthers were the better team this year and that’s it. can’t win the Stanley Cup if you get one goal at the end of the game in a clinch game by the third or fourth line as well. Stu and Picks gave us a chance to win, but the rest of the team fell short. Don’t worry….. We’ll get it done next year. 👍
In Spiel 6 hat man gesehen wer schuld ist – jeder Spieler von FLA hat sich in jede Schuss geworfen geblockt
It wasn’t Skinner’s fault. The boys can’t get the puck out and it’s also the turnovers
Why all the blame being put on the goalies? The team did not show up those last games.
Get rid of Schwartz and bring in a competent goalie coach… then see what happens with Skinner.
Maybe start at the core problem-goalie coach.
The discussion is stupid.
With Skinner, there is a still young goalie that is signed for fair 2,6m and has his best years ahead of him. He struggles sometimes, but mostly due to having lousy D in front of him and not being elite. He would benefit from having a 1b role, playing 35-40 games a season.
He`s the better of the two, and goalies didn`t loose both finals. It was lack of scoring.
Gibson isn`t an upgrade. He was horrible for his 6,4m cap hit, only last year his stats got better, because he was the backup to Dostal. He only played 29 games, the years where he played more than 45 he was bad.
He`s a cap grave.
Swayman is also a dangerous contract, it`s one thing to be good in a tandem with an elite partner, another one to shoulder more games and more loads.
Skinner is absolute value given his contract and age. If the Avs did win with Kuemper, you can win with Skinner.
For the 3,6m the Oilers did spend in goal, they got really good value.
Gibson would have not been better last year if he played 51 games in the Oilers net.
The Oiler goalies stink. Most of their defense stinks as well.