Stuart Skinner reveals new Mike Smith-inspired Oilers gear
Edmonton Oilers goaltender Stuart Skinner said he wanted to surprise the media with his new equipment yesterday, and it didn’t take long for him to do so.
The 25-year-old goaltender was on the ice this morning sporting a brand-new set of gear and a new mask. While it was a bit difficult to get a good look at the new bucket, Skinner’s new pads were easy to spot as he ditched the white and embraced a colourful set of blue and orange equipment.
If it looks familiar, it’s because the new gear looks almost identical to the set that ex-Oilers goalie Mike Smith wore during his tenure with the team.
If Skinner's new gear looks a bit familiar, it's because it's almost identical to the set that Mike Smith wore during his time with the #Oilers pic.twitter.com/VYUHbZP8Nx
— Preston Hodgkinson (@NHLHodgkinson) September 19, 2024
Daily Hive asked Skinner on Wednesday if he would be showing off some new gear and the goaltender refused to answer, saying it would be a “surprise.”
It’s certainly a departure from his previous look from the past few seasons. That set of gear was fairly conservative and was mostly white with a little bit of blue and orange on the bottom to distinguish them as Oilers’ pads.
One more tweet on this (I'm a goalie gear aficionado) but here is a refresher on the set Skinner wore last season… quite a bit of influx of colour on the new set.
(Photo cred: Sergei Belski/Imagn Images) https://t.co/Tfy4ombDtk pic.twitter.com/OIDokC2UCb
— Preston Hodgkinson (@NHLHodgkinson) September 19, 2024
Skinner was not made available to the media on Thursday, so it isn’t confirmed that he was inspired directly by the former Oilers goalie. Still, the similarities between the two are undeniable. The only noticeable difference for Skinner is that the brand is CCM rather than Smith’s TRUE, and the blue appears to be royal instead of navy.
Either way, we have not seen these types of pads worn with Edmonton’s iconic royal blue sweaters, as Smith only wore these during the team’s brief run with orange home jerseys.
This isn’t the first time Skinner has been wowed with a new set of gear. He also wore an excellent Grant Fuhr-inspired getup for last season’s Heritage Classic, which received rave reviews.
It’ll be interesting to find out why Skinner decided to take his gear in such a different direction, but nobody should be complaining about his new bold look anytime soon.