Stuart Skinner climbing up leaderboards after recent Oilers success
It certainly has been the tale of two seasons for Edmonton Oilers goaltender Stuart Skinner.
After being near the bottom of nearly every goalie stat tracked by the NHL early in the season, the sophomore netminder has put together an 8-2-0 record with a .926 save percentage over that period.
As a result, he has managed to get his overall save percentage up to .903 which is 18th in the league among goalies who have started in at least 20 games this year. To put that in perspective, that is ahead of New York Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin and Dallas Stars netminder Jake Oettinger.
NHL.com
In terms of wins this season, Skinner is doing even better. His 18 wins have him fifth in the league behind names like Vancouver Canucks goalie Thatcher Demko and Winnipeg Jets star Connor Hellebuyck.
Earlier in the season, much was being said about how much goaltending was affecting Edmonton’s poor start to the season. In fact, at one point, the team had a perfect 4-0-0 record when their goaltending had a save percentage above .900… the problem was that this was 14 games into the season.
The last time Skinner failed to reach this benchmark in a game was back on December 19 in a 3-1 loss to the New York Islanders. In his last 16 games, Skinner has posted a save percentage below .900 just four times.
The improvement in play is also showing up in his underlying analytics. According to Moneypuck.com, Skinner now ranks 63rd among all NHL goaltenders with -3.5 goals saved above expected (GSAE).
Considering Skinner was once ranked dead-last in the league in this stat, all the way down at 87th, it is not an insignificant jump.
Though the 25-year-old has been much better between the pipes for the Oilers, he has also gotten some help from backup Calvin Pickard as well as some improved play from the defensive group in front of him.
For now, it appears the Oilers were smart not to make a panic trade earlier in the season and can now have a more relaxed approach to upgrading the position in the coming months.