There is no doubt that the Oilers have a lot going for them heading into the upcoming season.
For starters, they have Connor McDavid. McDavid, 28, is a point-producing machine for the franchise as he scores goals, puts up a lot of assists, contributes on the power play, comes up big in key moments, and does all of this in both the regular season and the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Despite playing just 67 games last season, McDavid still managed to crack the 100-point mark as he had 106 points on 26 goals and 74 assists. Like the year before, he was also dynamite in the postseason as he picked up 33 points on seven goals and 26 assists.
Speaking of a point-producing machine, this team also has Leon Draisaitl. Draisaitl, 29, led the Oilers in scoring last season with 106 points (52 goals and 54 assists) and added another 33 points (11 goals and 22 assists) in the playoffs.
The team also has a great head coach in Kris Knoblauch. In two seasons with the team, he has led them to the Stanley Cup Final in back-to-back postseasons and has helped them to become one of the best teams in the league.
With all of that said, however, there is still one sore spot for this hockey club. It is an area of their game that got exposed in each of the Stanley Cup Finals against the Florida Panthers.
Of course, the team’s main issue is goaltending. Simply put, their goaltending has not been good enough to help them win the Cup, while also being somewhat inconsistent in the regular season.
The problem starts with the team’s starting goaltender, Stuart Skinner. In his team’s loss to the Panthers last season, Skinner, 26, did not get the job done.
Just take a look at the statistics below, and you will see that he struggled in four of the five games he played between the pipes for his hockey club:
- June 6th vs. the Panthers: Allowed five goals on 37 shots (.881 save percentage)
- June 9th vs. the Panthers: Allowed five goals on 23 shots (.783 save percentage)
- June 12th vs. the Panthers: Allowed three goals on 17 shots (.824 save percentage)
- June 17th vs. the Panthers: Allowed three goals on 23 shots (.870 save percentage)
Much like last season, Skinner also struggled against the Panthers in the 2024 Stanley Cup Final. This was especially the case in the first three games of the series:
- June 8th, 2024 vs. the Panthers: Allowed two goals on 17 shots (.882 save percentage)
- June 10th, 2024 vs. the Panthers: Allowed three goals on 28 shots (.893 save percentage)
- June 13th, 2024 vs. the Panthers: Allowed four goals on 23 shots (.826 save percentage)
While Skinner cannot be blamed for everything that went wrong in his team’s two trips to the Final, it can be said that his performance between the pipes was inconsistent and that he gave up too many soft goals at the wrong time.
Skinner has also been inconsistent in the regular season. Last season, he was 26-18-0-4 with a 2.81 goals-against average, a .896 save percentage, and three shutouts.
While the wins and shutouts look nice, it is Skinner’s goals-against average and save percentage that are spotty. Yes, the Oilers play a wide-open style of hockey and are not known for their defensive game, but Skinner needs to start stopping more pucks, whether it is in the regular season or postseason.
Not much can really be said when it comes to the team’s backup goaltender, Calvin Pickard. Pickard has shown that he is more than serviceable as he was 22-10-0-1 with a 2.71 goals-against average and a .900 save percentage during the regular season and went 7-1 with a 2.85 goals-against average and a .886 save percentage in the playoffs.
With that said, Pickard is not a starting goaltender. He is also not someone that can handle the load when it matters most, which is also somewhat alarming.
As of this writing (Friday, August 22), Oilers general manager Stan Bowman has yet to address his team’s goaltending issue. That is somewhat puzzling because his team has the talent up front to lead them back to a Cup Final, but not the goaltending to help them lift hockey’s Holy Grail.
It will be interesting to see if both goaltenders can up their respective games this upcoming season because if they are not able to do so, it might end up being more of the same for this hockey club.
ITR 47: Then There Was Nothing – Inside The Rink
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