Rumor: Rumors & Proposals Thread | The Oilers Biggest Roster Need Is?

[Mr Kot]

Team that gets to 2 goals first in a game 7 probably ends up winning like 90% of the time. Happened to us in 2006 too, Markanen let in a couple of soft goals and Carolina was not going to give us any charity.

In 2024 and 2006 we win the Cup with a better goalie in net for that series, in 2006 at least there is an excuse (injury), but that's two Cup banners you could've had.

A game 7 of a Cup Final is not going to be a run n' gun scoring affair, teams know once they get a lead to protect it all costs, even scoring winger types will dive face first in front of a puck to block it if they can taste a Cup.

Also, what most people arguing that Skinner was fine also need to consider that a good goalie probably doesn't allow some series to go the distance. Some of those early Florida games were winnable with just an extra good save or two.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

Someone here will say it's all on Schwartz

Keep defending him. He's done wonders for this org, scouting amazing goalie after amazing goalie.

 

[SupremeTeam16]

I don’t hate Skinner, I’m sure he’s a lovely fellow. I just don’t think he’s got it in him to elevate his game to the point where he wins you a Stanley Cup. And if it comes down to the team having to consistently out-score his short comings then that’s a gamble I’d sooner not have to take.

Interesting take considering he was the goalie for a team that went to game 7 of the cup finals and played for the team that scored 0 or 1 goals on 3/7 games in that series.

He also allowed less goals that series then the other teams goalie.

He was the goalie on a Cup finals team but he wasn’t the reason they lost. If the team could have mustered more than a single goal in that last game, he’s likely a SC winning goalie.

 

[Fourier]

Pickard has a 2.44 GAA, that's good for 15th best in the league, he should honestly be getting more starts, the way this org plays favorites with certain players is ridiculous (ie: Desharnais getting more rope than Broberg and Kesselring not even given a chance).

Skinner has a 3.33 GAA which is significantly worse behind the same defense. That's 46th in the league.

This is honestly total bullshit.

5 of Pickards 7 starts have been quality starts. ie with a sv% above league average. Skinner has 6 quality starts in 14 games.

 

[Soundwave]

Also, what most people arguing that Skinner was fine also need to consider that a good goalie probably doesn't allow some series to go the distance. Some of those early Florida games were winnable with just an extra good save or two.

Most game 7 (especially in a Cup Final) I can think of are basically "1st team to let in the 2nd goal loses"

Even in the 80s this was true, we beat Philly in game 7 '87, but it was a tight ass game, 2-1 until late in the 3rd, Andersson iced it with like 2 1/2 minutes left.

Pens/Red Wings 2009 game 7 - Pittsburgh gets to the 2nd goal first, wins 2-1.

Oilers/Hurricanes 06 game 7 - Carolina gets to the 2nd goal first, wins 3-1

Flames/Tampa 04 game 7 - Tampa gets to the 2nd goal first, wins 2-1

Oilers/Panthers 24 game 7 - Florida gets to the 2nd goal first, wins 2-1.

Seeing a pattern? You get that 2nd goal and you shut down shop, ain't no one playing for stats at that point, it's all about trap and killing clock and buy-in from every roster player is 100%.

If your goalie lets in the 2nd goal, you lose. Pretty much. Game 7 of a Cup Final is a different beast from any other kind of game.

 

[TopShelfGloveSide]

5 of Pickards 7 starts have been quality starts. ie with a sv% above league average. Skinner has 6 quality starts in 14 games.

It says a lot when a goalie who was banished to the AHL for years and years can hold his own behind this defence but our starter can’t.

 

[Darkwinter]

I like Skinner but I get the same vibes watching him play as I did with Cam Talbot's final year with Edmonton, always on the edge of my seat

 

[Drivesaitl]

Fair.

Although I think I've converted a lot of the board at this point...

At this point last year it was pretty much just me and @Drivesaitl saying Skinner wasn't it.

In fairness there were others as well. A few notables.

I'm not looking for converts though. Skinner does all that legwork, excuse pun, himself.

I wish he could be some other teams problem.

 

[Fourier]

It says a lot when a goalie who was banished to the AHL for years and years can hold his own behind this defence but our starter can’t.

I find myself being much calmer when Pickard is in net. I know that should not be the case, but it is.

 

[Soundwave]

Yeah so I looked it up, and in the modern era (lets define as that as the point Gretzky/Oilers entered the league in 1979), there have been nine game 7s in the Cup Finals.

9/9 times the team that gets to 2 goals first wins the Cup.

You. Cannot. Give. Up. The. 2nd. Goal. In. Game. 7. Of. A. Cup. Final.

You lose if you do. Defensive coaching schemes are too good these days. Teams will go into an auto-trap and play it balls to the wall for 30-40 minutes (whatever is left in the game to kill off).

 

[Macheteops]

I like Skinner but I get the same vibes watching him play as I did with Cam Talbot's final year with Edmonton, always on the edge of my seat

What do people like about this guy? His moustache, that he's from Edmonton because honestly not much about his play is likeable

He's a big guy who plays small. One of the least athletic goalies around. Terrible side to side. Seems to lose the puck. Bad rebound control. Calls out his teammates when they make a mistake while being an absolute turd

 

[Zerotonine]

Oilers and the goalie conversation every November/December. This shit dates back two decades. Even Rollie used to take heat.

Other then the cup run, rollie was shit lol

 

[Soundwave]

Other then the cup run, rollie was shit lol

He was OK, one bad season, 3 decent ones, 1 oustanding playoffs.

.905 (05-06) good despite the low sv% in reg season, playoffs oustanding
.909 (06-07 no Pronger) alright
.901 (07-08) bad
.915 (08-09) good

 

[Zerotonine]

He was OK, one bad season, 3 decent ones, 1 oustanding playoffs.

.905 (05-06)
.909 (06-07 no Pronger)
.901 (07-08) bad
.915 (08-09) good

Well I guess when you consider how the goaltending had been the last 10 years i guess i see your point . Imagine if r goalies had these statics today

 

[CanadasTeam99]

What do people like about this guy? His moustache, that he's from Edmonton because honestly not much about his play is likeable

He's a big guy who plays small. One of the least athletic goalies around. Terrible side to side. Seems to lose the puck. Bad rebound control. Calls out his teammates when they make a mistake while being an absolute turd

It's entertaining talk though lol.

It boggled my mind how anybody can turn themselves into a pretzel defending this guy lol. It's quite the sight.

Is it all his fault? Nope. Is he going to move the needle and help take us anywhere. NOPE. It's that simple for me.

Skinner will win a cup with Edmonton if Edmonton can average 5+ goals in the playoffs. Hell, I will lower that to 4. Minimum 4.

 

[Soundwave]

Oilers and the goalie conversation every November/December. This shit dates back two decades. Even Rollie used to take heat.

It's almost as if this organization doesn't take the position seriously.

This is now 4/5 poor starts in the last 5 years, a lot of it is likely at its core a team that has to play near perfect hockey infront of wishy washy goaltending and struggles to do so because with 3+ months off you're not going to be in as sync as say mid/late season.

 

[iCanada]

Yeah so I looked it up, and in the modern era (lets define as that as the point Gretzky/Oilers entered the league in 1979), there have been nine game 7s in the Cup Finals.

9/9 times the team that gets to 2 goals first wins the Cup.

You. Cannot. Give. Up. The. 2nd. Goal. In. Game. 7. Of. A. Cup. Final.

You lose if you do. Defensive coaching schemes are too good these days. Teams will go into an auto-trap and play it balls to the wall for 30-40 minutes (whatever is left in the game to kill off).

And I mean... In the very least if you're going to give up the second goal, fight for it.

Literally Reinhart's shot wouldn't have counted as a scoring chance based on typical xGF shot criteria.

 

[McBooya42]

This place sure has alot of johnny come lately cry babies.

Come lately? This an alt?

 

[belair]

It's almost as if this organization doesn't take the position seriously.

This is now 4/5 poor starts in the last 5 years, a lot of it is likely at its core a team that has to play near perfect hockey infront of wishy washy goaltending and struggles to do so because with 3+ months off you're not going to be in as sync as say mid/late season.

Looking at their draft and develop cycle historically, you may be right. Outside of the odd outlier, Edmonton has gotten by with mostly average tenders.

We've gone through this discussion countless times. The teams with true elite goalies generally draft and develop them.

You can trade your way to an established one, but there's no guarantee that the performance carries over. Jack Campbell was an extreme example of that.

Other then the cup run, rollie was shit lol

Rollie's Cup run made him impenetrable in this market. The guy should never have to buy another beer in Edmonton.

But yeah. He lost his job to Mathieu Garon, who the fans also turned on. But we don't talk about that.

 

[Soundwave]

Looking at their draft and develop cycle historically, you may be right. Outside of the odd outlier, Edmonton has gotten by with mostly average tenders.

We've gone through this discussion countless times. The teams with true elite goalies generally draft and develop them.

You can trade your way to an established one, but there's no guarantee that the performance carries over. Jack Campbell was an extreme example of that.

Well in Campbell's case his performance did carry over ... he carried his shit 2nd half of the season over straight into Edmonton, lol.

We don't need an elite goalie per se (if we had one we'd have Cup banners already), but we need someone better than bottom of the barrell though. We would have won the Cup in 2006 if Roloson didn't go down.

I think our chance to win a Cup with a Skinner-tier goalie was last year. The stars aligned for it to be nearly so.

I don't know if that's going to repeat. It was good fortune enough that it happened once. You need to get someone better than bottom 2 in the league for GSAA ... that's just not gonna work.

Skinner can't even blame the D for his terrible numbers this year, they've been playing much more structured this year and Pickard is allowing almost an entire goal less against per game, which is an enormous gap.

Otherwise every year is going to be this same soap opera, frankly I think everyone including the players are beyond tired of it.

 

[soothsayer]

Looking at their draft and develop cycle historically, you may be right. Outside of the odd outlier, Edmonton has gotten by with mostly average tenders.

We've gone through this discussion countless times. The teams with true elite goalies generally draft and develop them.

You can trade your way to an established one, but there's no guarantee that the performance carries over. Jack Campbell was an extreme example of that.


Rollie's Cup run made him impenetrable in this market. The guy should never have to buy another beer in Edmonton.

But yeah. He lost his job to Mathieu Garon, who the fans also turned on. But we don't talk about that.

I try to remember Garon as the all-time greatest shootout goalie in NHL history.

 

[Drivesaitl]

Skinner won us the Vancouver series like a 12 year old takes the family to Disney Land wtf lol.

In the finals he wasn't really a huge factor positively, and he wasn't really particularly good either; posted a .905 game 7, .952 game 6 (we scored 6, Florida only had 2.6 xGF), .906 game 5, .970 game 4 (we scored 8, Florida only had 1.3 xGF), .826 game game 3, .833 game 2, and an .882 game 1.

He was literally garbage tier in three games, then below average in two games, and in two games he had an easy night where he wasn't tested and we dominated Florida.

Seeing somebody say Skinner won us the Vancouver series and your reaction is one of the funniest things I've seen today.

Fact is you can count the games in playoffs Skinner was significant positive on one hand. He had several bad games, He had about 5 good games, 5 other pretty what a goalie is supposed to be games. I would list the bad games but its been done, and a depressing exercise. Its still ironic his stellar play in deciding game sealed the Dallas series. But against a team that goes stone cold sometimes just on its own and has even to the Calgary Flames.

 

[CanadasTeam99]

Looking at their draft and develop cycle historically, you may be right. Outside of the odd outlier, Edmonton has gotten by with mostly average tenders.

We've gone through this discussion countless times. The teams with true elite goalies generally draft and develop them.

You can trade your way to an established one, but there's no guarantee that the performance carries over. Jack Campbell was an extreme example of that.


Rollie's Cup run made him impenetrable in this market. The guy should never have to buy another beer in Edmonton.

But yeah. He lost his job to Mathieu Garon, who the fans also turned on. But we don't talk about that.

ahh I remember Garon. What was it? 11 shootout victories in a row? lol

 

[Drivesaitl]

If it weren't for Skinner the Oilers would have lost to the Kings? lol, what? In 3 of the 5 games against the Kings, he had a sub-900 save %, one of which being .808. And in the three games starting against Florida, he couldn't put up a save % above .900. In the Stanley Cup Finals.

It's a miracle the Oilers were able to come back from that hole and bring it to game 7. Sure, he had two good games after that, but he already sewered his performance. And that is classic Skinner. He will play like an AHL goalie for stretches, and then have a good game or two and some people think that's proof he's a good starting goalie.

The OIlers steam rolled the Kings. A fun drinking game is having a drink everytime Skins lets in 4G's in a game or is below .900. Theres a lot, like a lot. Surprising how many instances in playoffs. Yeah, in the Finals Skinner was bad in several games in the series. The one that hurt most is game 3 which we win with even adequate goaltending. We get that Win and we probably win the cup.

 

[Drivesaitl]

I find myself being much calmer when Pickard is in net. I know that should not be the case, but it is.

Doesn't it seem like the team is as well? Some of the teams best games this season have been with Pickard in goal where they can settle in to their game and know if they are the better club they will win. Pickard has some hot and cold games but not usually so bad where he costs what would otherwise be a W.