Post-Game Talk: Can we leave Stu in a California Closet?

[CantHaveTkachev]

Regular season awards mean nothing. Imagine if McDavid thought like that. We would be in lotto land.

if regular season meant anything, the Jets would've won a few series by now on the back of Hellebuyck

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

Well here's a pro tip ... when you have the worst NHL goaltending in the playoffs of the modern era, probably best to just shut up about talking about other teams goalies, especially when those goalies have actually won a Cup in several cases.

You don't have a leg to stand on there.

But I think the stupidity and denial of goaltending realities is something deeply rooted now by this pompous front office, the boot licking media, and even large parts of the fanbase.

nah, goalies are still unpredictable, despite you ranting about failed management and Skinner being the worse ever

 

[Soundwave]

People also believe the Oilers are some infallible team that plays picture perfect defense. The way they’re defending this playoffs they’ll be done in 4.

The team isn't good defensively without Ekholm, big shock.

Newflash this was even the case with last year's magical, wonderful, perfect team ... they were dog shit bad last year when they had to start the season with Ekholm injured, yes even with Foegele, Holloway, McLeod, and all the wonder friends ... they sucked even worse during that stretch bottoming out by losing to the freaking last place San Jose Sharks and getting Woodcroft fired.

That still doesn't change the fact that Stuart Cloutier is the worst modern NHL starter in the playoffs of probably like 100-200+ different goalies, he some how has the worst save percentage of all of them in the last 30 years.

That's almost bordering on unbelievable.

 

[OfCorsiDid]

I don’t think that

A- we have the personnel to play like that
B- we have the capability to play like that
C- we aren’t built to play like that
And
D- we aren’t coached to play like that.

We are coached, built and wired to play an emotionless robotic positional game and rely on our two nuclear weapons to win the day.

Not sure that’s a winning formula.

Wow my mistake coming on here.

Somehow more miserable than Reddit or Twitter, so kudos?

I'll leave you guys to wallow.

 

[TB12]

If anyone suffers from priapism (look it up), the cure is watching Stuart Skinner play goal.

Damn I looked it up and now my targeted ads are all over the place. Screw you @Cloned !

 

[M Ace]

Looked at Mike Smiths stats as an Oiler. Compared to Skinner, he was a Vezina, Jennings & Conn Smyth candidate:

Mike Smith:

2019-20

Edmonton Oilers

NHL

39​

2.95​

.902​

1​

19-12-6​

Playoffs

1​

11.31​

.783​

0​

0-1-0​

2020-21

Edmonton Oilers

NHL

32​

2.31​

.923​

3​

21-6-2​

Playoffs

4​

2.40​

.912​

0​

0-4-0​

2021-22

Edmonton Oilers

NHL

28​

2.81​

.915​

2​

16-9-2​

Playoffs

16​

3.37​

.913​

2​

8-6-0​

Stuart Skinner:

2020-21

Edmonton Oilers

NHL

1​

5.03​

.868​

0​

1-0-0​

Bakersfield Condors

AHL

31​

2.38​

.914​

2​

20-9-2​

Playoffs

6​

2.68​

.907​

0​

4-2-0​

2021-22

Edmonton Oilers

NHL

13​

2.62​

.913​

1​

6-6-0​

Bakersfield Condors

AHL

35​

2.21​

.920​

5​

22-7-7​

Playoffs

5​

2.82​

.911​

0​

2-3-0​

2022-23

Edmonton Oilers

NHL

50​

2.75​

.914​

1​

29-14-5​

Playoffs

12​

3.68​

.883​

0​

5-6-0​

2023-24

Edmonton Oilers

NHL

59​

2.62​

.905​

2​

36-16-5​

Playoffs

23​

2.45​

.901​

1​

14-9-0​

2024-25

Edmonton Oilers

NHL

51​

2.81​

.896​

3​

26-18-4​

Playoffs

2​

6.11​

.810​

0​

0-2-0​

 

[McFlyingV]

Looked at Mike Smiths stats as an Oiler. Compared to Skinner, he was a Vezina, Jennings & Conn Smyth candidate:

Mike Smith:

2019-20

Edmonton Oilers

NHL

39​

2.95​

.902​

1​

19-12-6​

Playoffs

1​

11.31​

.783​

0​

0-1-0​

2020-21

Edmonton Oilers

NHL

32​

2.31​

.923​

3​

21-6-2​

Playoffs

4​

2.40​

.912​

0​

0-4-0​

2021-22

Edmonton Oilers

NHL

28​

2.81​

.915​

2​

16-9-2​

Playoffs

16​

3.37​

.913​

2​

8-6-0​

Stuart Skinner:

2020-21

Edmonton Oilers

NHL

1​

5.03​

.868​

0​

1-0-0​

Bakersfield Condors

AHL

31​

2.38​

.914​

2​

20-9-2​

Playoffs

6​

2.68​

.907​

0​

4-2-0​

2021-22

Edmonton Oilers

NHL

13​

2.62​

.913​

1​

6-6-0​

Bakersfield Condors

AHL

35​

2.21​

.920​

5​

22-7-7​

Playoffs

5​

2.82​

.911​

0​

2-3-0​

2022-23

Edmonton Oilers

NHL

50​

2.75​

.914​

1​

29-14-5​

Playoffs

12​

3.68​

.883​

0​

5-6-0​

2023-24

Edmonton Oilers

NHL

59​

2.62​

.905​

2​

36-16-5​

Playoffs

23​

2.45​

.901​

1​

14-9-0​

2024-25

Edmonton Oilers

NHL

51​

2.81​

.896​

3​

26-18-4​

Playoffs

2​

6.11​

.810​

0​

0-2-0​

The Oilers probably win 1 cup in the past 2 years with Mike Smith in net. That is true. And I'm not even much of a Mike Smith fan, but he could at least make a big save at a key moment in a game. Skinner can't make many difficult saves, and if he does its often because the guy shooting placed it horribly.

All you have to do is watch highlight reels of good goalies making saves on cross ice passes, and watch Skinner's highlight reels. Skinners almost always are on fanned shots, shots taken at the middle of the net or the side of the net Skinner's coming from, or incredibly slow or predictable cross ice passes. Compare that to athletic goalies and you'll see them stop perfectly placed shots or double cross ice passes (you'll never see this with Skinner because he has no capability of pushing cross crease and then pushing back, he just pushes and prays).

 

[TB12]

I get the smiling when being hammered by the Kings and their fans might be his coping mechanism but there is no doubt in my mind someone in management upstairs at the game saw that on tv and radioed down during the tv timeout to yank him right then and there as he was on the bench after the commercial break.

It’s a bad look and bad form. Go bang your goalposts with your stick, drink from your water bottle, skate circles in the corner, anything but don’t f***ing smile and laugh when your 3 goals down, 11 goals in less than 6 and can’t make a save beyond the routine and are flailing away like a fish out of water.

One of my old man's coaches in the minors had been a coach of the Red Wings back in the day. Over beers one night they're asking him about getting fired from the NHL. Coach says the owner (or GM can't remember which) had a phone installed in his owners box that had a direct line to the bench. Owner would call multiple times a game, trainer would pick up and often have to give the coach the phone so the owner could vent to him or tell him what to do.

Well one game the phone rings, trainer picks it up, looks over at the coach to hand him the phone and the coach says "tell him I'm not here".

Fired that evening lol

 

[CycloneSweep]

Vasilevsky, Hill, Hellebuyck are having bad playoffs thus far

weird, I was told goalies weren't voodoo

Hellebuyck is a known playoff failure and has been for a while. He gets overplayed in the regular season and crumble .

Vasilevskiy has had a rough first game but has a great game 2. 0.955 s% so saying he has had a bad playoffs is..simply untrue.

Adin Hill is not a good goalie either so putting those 3 together is odd.

 

[Soundwave]

Hellebuyck is a known playoff failure and has been for a while. He gets overplayed in the regular season and crumble .

Vasilevskiy has had a rough first game but has a great game 2. 0.955 s% so saying he has had a bad playoffs is..simply untrue.

Adin Hill is not a good goalie either so putting those 3 together is odd.

We'd have a Cup (probably the 2024 one) if Adin Hill was our goalie.

He's a good goalie, maybe not prime Patrick Roy and maybe having a tough series. I think people need to wake up and realize Kaprizov is one of the top 5-7 talents in the game too though.

The only reason that Minnesota team barely made the playoffs is because Kaprizov and Erikson-Ek were injured for like 3 months otherwise they'd have made it easily.

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

Wow my mistake coming on here.

Somehow more miserable than Reddit or Twitter, so kudos?

I'll leave you guys to wallow.

Who is wallowing? I’m just stating the facts. We aren’t a hitting team, we aren’t built to be a hitting team and our coach is on record as stating he doesn’t coach them to play that way.

Thats just the way this team is and is built to play a systemic positional defence. Look at our teams hit count - I think we were dead last?

I don’t disagree with this is the way we should play but it’s not the current Oilers. Hell Frederic has 1 good ankle and can’t push off, Ekholm is out, Kane’s timing is way off due to rust and not at speed yet, and that leaves you with 4th liner Podkolzin, our teams hit leader by a country mile. Literally nobody else is a banger on the team so that’s just stating facts.

So it’d be nice to see but I doubt it happens.

 

[MessierThanThou]

Let's play "Guess Who"

Over the last three playoffs he has
-14.79GSAA 39th of 39
-8.5GSAx last of all goalies to play a game.

 

[foshizzle]

they aren't? what's their save percentages so far?

No clue. Maybe that means players are also voodoo

 

[harpoon]

What did he do? He worked hard at his game and actually improved his game from a checking center to a pretty good top 6 two way forward. He squeezed every last drop of talent out of his body before he got older, lost that little bit of speed and durability, and couldn’t do it anymore.

And then he took up PED use. Half kidding because I do see your point. I hated Horcoff with his fake post game comments as he stroked his nose like he was a Roman senator holding court. And the way MacT treated Horc like his adopted son and gave him every opportunity definitely has a lot of parallels with the Skinner situation.

But on the specific point you mention, hard work to be the best that his talent threshold could reach, I couldn’t fault Hordoff at all. There’s no doubt he worked his ass off to take advantage of his opportunity. In hindsight, I probably should have respected that more. And you are also correct to point out that we see no evidence of equivalent effort from Skinner.

 

[harpoon]

cool....I guess he just hasn't made the key save at the right time or else the Avs would be up in their series
tough look

Yeah … but isn’t that kind of the thing that the posters babbling about how Skinner isn’t the only problem are missing. If you’re Blackwood and making all the saves that you are supposed to and more, then you’re doing your job and fans are going to have to look elsewhere for the reason the team isn’t winning. If you’re Skinner and the most exercise you’re getting so far is picking the puck out of your net after another goal, (sporting a .800s SV% and a 6.00 GAA etc etc), then most fans are rightly going to focus in on the fact that you are the low hanging fruit.

 

[Sheikyerbouti]

I get everyone is so sick of the Skinner show, I am as well, but the team in front of him has stunk and been incredibly undisciplined.

Skinner sucks, but the team is making him look horrible. No goalie could have looked good with the free looks we are giving up, the middle is just open. Picks came in and got got on the first shot. There is only one team in the playoffs making these mistakes multiple times a game, and until that changes nothing else matters.

 

[Cloned]

And then he took up PED use. Half kidding because I do see your point. I hated Horcoff with his fake post game comments as he stroked his nose like he was a Roman senator holding court. And the way MacT treated Horc like his adopted son and gave him every opportunity definitely has a lot of parallels with the Skinner situation.

But on the specific point you mention, hard work to be the best that his talent threshold could reach, I couldn’t fault Hordoff at all. There’s no doubt he worked his ass off to take advantage of his opportunity. In hindsight, I probably should have respected that more. And you are also correct to point out that we see no evidence of equivalent effort from Skinner.

Sometimes you don’t know what you had until you see the opposite.

It’s saying something when watching Skinner makes you respect a part of somebody else that you hated.

 

[M Ace]

Skinner losing faith in himself is what probably drags the most on the rest of the team. Fake smiles don't hide it, they can all see Skinner lose any second efforts and look like he's stuck in the mud.

Org seriously needs to make sure we avoid goalies with super fragile confidence ... if we ever get serious and try to actually fix our goaltending. Last try we somehow found a way to give 5x5M to one of the top 3 most mentally fragile goalies of the last decade. I'm just assuming there were some more fragile than Campbell, but maybe he was actually #1.

As I said before. They need to go hard after Jordan Binnington. Nothing bothers that guy. He would even take a fight to wake this team up.
He is a winner!!

 

[M Ace]

I mean I have said on a few occasions that this ten-year stretch has seen unprecedented managerial incompetence and the biggest bungling by any succession of managers in the entire 108-year history of the league, given the fact that we were gifted two generational talents who are also two of the greatest playoff performers in history and yet they still don't have a Cup. I've seen similar sentiments shared. Deadline day was insufferable though, with so much blind faith for Bowman.

But Skinner is no scapegoat, he is a symptom and direct result of this managerial incompetence. After all, he was scouted, drafted, and developed by the guy you think should be fired.

He looks slow and clumsy on the ice, seems to lack even basic skills at an NHL level, and is arguably, and statistically, the worst modern goalie to play as many postseason games as he has. I think he's too damaged and moves too slowly to be salvageable, and will likely be joining Andrew Raycroft and Steve Mason in the one-season-wonder scrap heap. And Knob has lost the room and is making mistakes obvious to even a dipshit like me, so I don't think that's scapegoating either.

And Campbell is out of the league one season after we demoted him, so I think that's pretty convincing evidence he wasn't scapegoated either, though we probably agree that a certain goalie coach likely "broke" him.

That certain goalie coach also broke our best homegrown goalie for years in Devan Dubnyk, who went on to be a Vezina candidate with another coach....

 

[GMofOilers]

Let's play "Guess Who"

Over the last three playoffs he has
-14.79GSAA 39th of 39
-8.5GSAx last of all goalies to play a game.

Add to this

Worst playoff goalie in last 30 years

Skinner fans can’t defend it anymore

 

[GMofOilers]

Not my fault Skinner hadn’t had the worst defence for his last 36 playoff games in the last 30 years

Not my fault Skinner is the worst playoff goalie in the last 30 years

There is a glaring back f***ing hole on this team that is not my fault skinner

It’s pretty simple

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

I get everyone is so sick of the Skinner show, I am as well, but the team in front of him has stunk and been incredibly undisciplined.

Skinner sucks, but the team is making him look horrible. No goalie could have looked good with the free looks we are giving up, the middle is just open. Picks came in and got got on the first shot. There is only one team in the playoffs making these mistakes multiple times a game, and until that changes nothing else matters.

The Oilers are giving the Kings too many wide open looks. A more offensive team would’ve put up double digits against this team. I get the frustration with Skinner but the way they’re playing right now is so much worse than last year.

 

[brentashton]

Let's play "Guess Who"

Over the last three playoffs he has
-14.79GSAA 39th of 39
-8.5GSAx last of all goalies to play a game.

Ok. I’ll play…

These Eyes
These eyes cry every night for you…

Laughing
Laughing, 'cause you're doin' it to me
Laughing, it ain't the way it should be
You took away everything I had
You put the hurt on me

No Time
(No time left for you)
On my way to better things
(No time left for you)
I'll find myself some wings
(No time left for you)
Distant roads are calling me
(No time left for you)
Mm-da, mm-da, mm-da, mm-da, mm-da

f***.

 

[MessierII]

That certain goalie coach also broke our best homegrown goalie for years in Devan Dubnyk, who went on to be a Vezina candidate with another coach....

Not true actually

 

[MikeS24]

Gregor says goaltending isn't even a top 5 concern right now