3 biggest Edmonton Oilers disappointments to start the season

2. Stuart Skinner
Stats: Sv. Pct. .873, Wins 4

It's pretty surprising that the Oilers have two goalies on the roster with the same exact save percentage. It's even more surprising that it's this low. Two players in the entire NHL who are among the 55 goalies that qualify for stats have a worse save percentage than Campbell and Stuart Skinner's .873 save percentage. The Oilers are where they are not because of a lack of defense, inopportune offense, a drop in power play efficiency, or any other number of excuses. They are where they are because of goaltending.

Nobody can blame them for making no moves this offseason. We talked about the Campbell contract. They weren't going to reset after one bad year. They will after two. However, Skinner was coming off a Calder Trophy nomination. He was the reason the Oilers fared as well as they did last season. He lifted this team to the heights they saw in 2022-23.

This season, he's part of the problem. We've seen this happen with rookie goalies before. The last goalie to win the Calder was Steve Mason with the Columbus Blue Jackets. He was only 20 years old and posted a .916 save percentage. He got much worse every year until the Flyers traded for him. The hope is Skinner isn't in that same vein with the Oilers chasing his rookie stats for years.

Skinner can turn this around. If he just becomes an average goalie, the Oilers will start winning games. It's really that simple. This was a team with Stanley Cup aspirations. Skinner is key to hitting those expectations despite the slow start.