<p>Goaltending is always a conversation in Edmonton and, unfortunately, it&#8217;s rarely for good reasons. Stuart Skinner has struggled to start the season and now fans want to see a change. Is it too early to do that? Are the other options that are available even good? We&#8217;ll chat about that today as well as options for the Team Canada crease.</p>
<p></p>
<h2>Should the Oilers be Goalie Shopping?</h2>
<p>I am a believer in Stuart Skinner. If you watched Oilersnation Everyday, Tyler Yaremchuk and I both believe that Skinner can turn things around and become the goaltender he was for the back half of last season. It&#8217;s important to remember he&#8217;s still young and bumps in the road shouldn&#8217;t be unexpected. With that said, the frustration from the fan base about the start of the season is warranted because he hasn&#8217;t been good enough at times.</p>
<p>Hopefully, the win over the New York Rangers can help Skinner move in the right direction. However, if the inconsistency trickles into January then yes Stan Bowman needs to consider things more. I wouldn&#8217;t trade Skinner but ideally, the team can find him a better, more veteran option for his partner than Pickard, who has been good this season to his credit. If you give this situation time to figure it out, not only will you know more about your own goaltending but the Oilers will probably have more options on the table for a trade. For now, let&#8217;s just support Stu.</p>
<hr />
<figure id="attachment_151221" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-151221" style="width: 1024px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-large wp-image-151221" src="http://publish.oilersnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/USATSI_20288262-1024x683.jpg" alt="Anaheim Ducks John Gibson" width="1024" height="683" srcset="https://publish.oilersnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/USATSI_20288262-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://publish.oilersnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/USATSI_20288262-300x200.jpg 300w, https://publish.oilersnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/USATSI_20288262-768x512.jpg 768w, https://publish.oilersnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/USATSI_20288262-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://publish.oilersnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/USATSI_20288262-2048x1365.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-151221" class="wp-caption-text">Mar 21, 2023; Anaheim, California, USA; Anaheim Ducks goaltender John Gibson (36) allows a power play goal scored by Calgary Flames center Elias Lindholm (28) during the third period at Honda Center.</figcaption></figure>
<hr />
<h2>Why John Gibson?</h2>
<p>I don&#8217;t get it. Why do fans want John Gibson? There&#8217;s no denying that he&#8217;s done well to start the season but it seems to have been forgotten that he&#8217;s not the goaltender he once was. From 2015 to 2019, Gibson was an elite goaltender. He played 210 games, 204 games started, with a 0.922 save percentage (6th in the NHL) and a 2.42 goals against average (10th in the NHL). As Oilers fans, we all remember that guy. Unfortunately, Gibson hasn&#8217;t been that player for many years now. You have to add more rows to NHL.com stats page to see where Gibson lands from the 2019-20 season onwards. He has a .900 save percentage (80th in the NHL) and a 3.35 goals-against average (101st in the NHL).</p>
<p>Playing on the Anaheim Ducks has obviously not been helpful. However, Gibson&#8217;s downfall has been exposed with the emergence of Lukas Dostal. The team&#8217;s younger goaltender has 81 games played with a career .906 save percentage and a 3.31 GAA. This season has been a breakout for the third-round pick from the 2018 draft, as Dostal owns a .922 save percentage over 14 games.</p>
<p>On Oilersnation Everyday, Tyler Yaremchuk and I said Calvin Pickard was just as good if not better than Gibson. It&#8217;s fair to say people couldn&#8217;t disagree more, which is unfortunate because Pickard deserves more credit. Pickard joined the Oilers from the AHL last November he&#8217;s top 10 in goals against average, has an above-league average in save percentage and has shown up whenever Edmonton needed him.</p>
<p>The Oilers have few bullets in the chamber and firing them all at Gibson would be a huge mistake. Also, the Ducks aren&#8217;t keeping 50% of his contract for nothing. The Oilers traded a first, Reid Schaeffer and Tyson Barrie for only 4% retention on Mattias Ekholm&#8217;s contract which has multiple years remaining. Imagine what they&#8217;d have to pay for Gibson.</p>
<h2>The State of Canadian Goaltending</h2>
<p>From one goaltender to another, Stuart Skinner isn&#8217;t making Team Canada, which isn&#8217;t breaking news at this point. It&#8217;s disappointing because he had a real shot of being the start for his country at the Four Nations Face-Off. The competition for the crease has taken a positive turn the past couple of weeks, especially when you consider how bleak it has been the majority of the season.</p>
<p>Nine Canadian goaltenders have played more than 10 games this season with four having a .900 save percentage or better: Cam Talbot (0.921), Logan Thompson (0.917), Mackenzie Blackwood (0.909) and Darcy Kuemper (0.903). Four goaltenders that weren&#8217;t in the conversation to start the year and lack playoff experience, besides Kuemper who won the Stanley Cup with the Colorado Avalanche.</p>
<p>Jordan Binnington and Adin Hill remain in the conversation, despite their underwhelming starts to the season. Many have them as two of the three goaltenders going to the tournament with one of the other four above being the third. Either Binnington or Hill going makes sense due to their experience in the playoffs but does Canada need both?</p>
<p>There&#8217;s a long period between when the team is announced to when the puck drops. While a player&#8217;s stats can improve, you need to pick the team based on current events too. Binnington and Hill have had their moments and shown improvement but they both don&#8217;t deserve to go. My prediction is Hill gets the nod over Binnington with a big reason being Bruce Cassidy is on the bench. The other two goaltenders to represent Canada will be Cam Talbot and Logan Thompson. We&#8217;ll find out in a few days how right or wrong I was.</p>

Goaltending is always a conversation in Edmonton and, unfortunately, it's rarely for good reasons. Stuart Skinner has struggled to start the season and now fans want to see a change. Is it too early to do that? Are the other options that are available even good? We'll chat about that today as well as options for the Team Canada crease.


<h2>Should the Oilers be Goalie Shopping?</h2>
I am a believer in Stuart Skinner. If you watched Oilersnation Everyday, Tyler Yaremchuk and I both believe that Skinner can turn things around and become the goaltender he was for the back half of last season. It's important to remember he's still young and bumps in the road shouldn't be unexpected. With that said, the frustration from the fan base about the start of the season is warranted because he hasn't been good enough at times.

Hopefully, the win over the New York Rangers can help Skinner move in the right direction. However, if the inconsistency trickles into January then yes Stan Bowman needs to consider things more. I wouldn't trade Skinner but ideally, the team can find him a better, more veteran option for his partner than Pickard, who has been good this season to his credit. If you give this situation time to figure it out, not only will you know more about your own goaltending but the Oilers will probably have more options on the table for a trade. For now, let's just support Stu.

<hr />

[caption id="attachment_151221" align="aligncenter" width="1024"]<img class="size-large wp-image-151221" src="http://publish.oilersnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/USATSI_20288262-1024x683.jpg" alt="Anaheim Ducks John Gibson" width="1024" height="683" /> Mar 21, 2023; Anaheim, California, USA; Anaheim Ducks goaltender John Gibson (36) allows a power play goal scored by Calgary Flames center Elias Lindholm (28) during the third period at Honda Center.[/caption]

<hr />

<h2>Why John Gibson?</h2>
I don't get it. Why do fans want John Gibson? There's no denying that he's done well to start the season but it seems to have been forgotten that he's not the goaltender he once was. From 2015 to 2019, Gibson was an elite goaltender. He played 210 games, 204 games started, with a 0.922 save percentage (6th in the NHL) and a 2.42 goals against average (10th in the NHL). As Oilers fans, we all remember that guy. Unfortunately, Gibson hasn't been that player for many years now. You have to add more rows to NHL.com stats page to see where Gibson lands from the 2019-20 season onwards. He has a .900 save percentage (80th in the NHL) and a 3.35 goals-against average (101st in the NHL).

Playing on the Anaheim Ducks has obviously not been helpful. However, Gibson's downfall has been exposed with the emergence of Lukas Dostal. The team's younger goaltender has 81 games played with a career .906 save percentage and a 3.31 GAA. This season has been a breakout for the third-round pick from the 2018 draft, as Dostal owns a .922 save percentage over 14 games.

On Oilersnation Everyday, Tyler Yaremchuk and I said Calvin Pickard was just as good if not better than Gibson. It's fair to say people couldn't disagree more, which is unfortunate because Pickard deserves more credit. Pickard joined the Oilers from the AHL last November he's top 10 in goals against average, has an above-league average in save percentage and has shown up whenever Edmonton needed him.

The Oilers have few bullets in the chamber and firing them all at Gibson would be a huge mistake. Also, the Ducks aren't keeping 50% of his contract for nothing. The Oilers traded a first, Reid Schaeffer and Tyson Barrie for only 4% retention on Mattias Ekholm's contract which has multiple years remaining. Imagine what they'd have to pay for Gibson.
<h2>The State of Canadian Goaltending</h2>
From one goaltender to another, Stuart Skinner isn't making Team Canada, which isn't breaking news at this point. It's disappointing because he had a real shot of being the start for his country at the Four Nations Face-Off. The competition for the crease has taken a positive turn the past couple of weeks, especially when you consider how bleak it has been the majority of the season.

Nine Canadian goaltenders have played more than 10 games this season with four having a .900 save percentage or better: Cam Talbot (0.921), Logan Thompson (0.917), Mackenzie Blackwood (0.909) and Darcy Kuemper (0.903). Four goaltenders that weren't in the conversation to start the year and lack playoff experience, besides Kuemper who won the Stanley Cup with the Colorado Avalanche.

Jordan Binnington and Adin Hill remain in the conversation, despite their underwhelming starts to the season. Many have them as two of the three goaltenders going to the tournament with one of the other four above being the third. Either Binnington or Hill going makes sense due to their experience in the playoffs but does Canada need both?

There's a long period between when the team is announced to when the puck drops. While a player's stats can improve, you need to pick the team based on current events too. Binnington and Hill have had their moments and shown improvement but they both don't deserve to go. My prediction is Hill gets the nod over Binnington with a big reason being Bruce Cassidy is on the bench. The other two goaltenders to represent Canada will be Cam Talbot and Logan Thompson. We'll find out in a few days how right or wrong I was.

What’s on My Mind: Goaltending for the Edmonton Oilers and Team Canada

Recent articles from Liam Horrobin

Breaking News