Edmonton Oilers goalie Stuart Skinner among NHL's all-time worst career playoff save percentages
It didn’t take long for Edmonton Oilers goaltender Stuart Skinner to start taking major criticism yet again.
The playoffs have been a roller coaster for Skinner, who was roughed up in the opening two games versus the LA Kings before riding the pine in favour of Calvin Pickard. An injury to the latter forced the Oilers to go back to Skinner, though he quickly redeemed himself after picking up back-to-back shutouts to help his team advance to the Western Conference Final.
The roller coaster ride continued on Wednesday night, however, as the 26-year-old allowed four goals in the third period, which led to the Dallas Stars taking Game 1 by a 6-3 final. Skinner allowed five goals on just 27 shots in the outing, and now has an abysmal 3.39 GAA paired with a .872 SV% in six games these playoffs.
Playoff struggles are nothing new for the Oilers starting netminder, who posted another ugly statline of a 3.68 GAA and a .883 SV% in 12 appearances during the 2023 playoffs. Those stats, paired with a mediocre .901 SV% in last year’s run, have him on a list no NHL goaltender would ever want to be a part of.
Lowest career playoff save percentage (min. 40 GP):
.873- Murray Bannerman
.880- Pete Peeters
.880- Dan Bouchard
.881- Rejean Lemelin
.882- Don Edwards
.885- Greg Millen
.888- Gilles Meloche
.888- Don Beaupre
.889- Mike Liut
.890- Andy Moog
.891- Stuart Skinner
.891- Kelly Hrudey pic.twitter.com/c92dd6fpUS— StatsCentre (@StatsCentre) May 22, 2025
Thursday night marked the 41st playoff appearance of Skinner’s playoff career, and his rough start now has him tied with Kelly Hrudey for the 11th worst SV% all time (.891) amongst goalies who have logged 40 or more postseason games.
What bodes even worse for Skinner is that the other goalies on this list, including Hrudey, played in an era where SV%’s were significantly lower on average.
“They’re competing to get goals, get guys around the net to make my life a lot harder,” Skinner said after Wednesday’s loss. “That’s what makes the game tough… It’s an opportunity for me to get better. Get better at traffic play, get better at that competitiveness and work my way through it.”
The Oilers will desperately need Skinner to be better in Game 2, as they failed to get the big saves when needed in the opening game of this series and find themselves trailing as a result.