The Edmonton Oilers have had their fair share of instability at the goaltending position during the McDavid era. Stuart Skinner was started to stabilize the starting job over the past two seasons. He only had to do so because the Jack Campbell contract has been an absolute disaster. Before that, the team was constantly searching for an upgrade on the Mike Smith and Mikko Koskinen tandem. That tandem was a product of moving on from Cam Talbot after a down year following two successful seasons with an insane workload and this move.
The Oilers were partially forced to move Talbot was because of the salary cap. The Oilers were lacking extra cap space, and with Andrej Sekera returning from injury, salary needed to be moved out in order to be compliant. After Peter Chiarelli had extended Mikko Koskinen on his last day in his office, the easy move was to shed Talbot’s contract. Keith Gretzky moved Talbot for Anthony Stolarz in a one for one trade.
What Stolarz could contribute
Stolarz had come from Philadelphia with a .902 save percentage in 12 games for the Flyers, and presented a decent back up to spell Koskinen at the time. There was also some untapped upside with Stolarz, as the former second round pick had battled knee injuries early in his career. The Oilers had acquired a decent asset with some potential, but there was one caveat.
Stolarz was a pending restricted free agent, but needed 25 NHL appearances of over 30 minutes in order to not become a group 6 unrestricted free agent. With 25 games remaining in the Oilers’ season, it was a manageable workload, especially with the heavy deployment of Koskinen to that point in the season.
Ken Hitchcock had other ideas. With the Oilers chasing what was already a slim playoff chance, the Hall of Fame coach started Koskinen 23 times for the rest of the season, including both halves of a back-to-back four different times. Koskinen was pulled four times in that stretch, with Stolarz making another two starts, falling four appearances short of the 10 needed for the Oilers to retain his rights. The trade had occurred on February 15, with Stolarz not making his first appearance as an Oiler until the 27 of that month and first start coming on March 9.
During his Oiler tenure, Stolarz really only had the one poor appearance, which came in relief against St. Louis. The lack of trust from the coaching staff did not match the results. Hitchcock even had multiple quotes pointing out that he was surprised how good Stolarz was.
Could Stolarz have helped Edmonton?
Stolarz would go on to sign a two-year contract with the Anaheim Ducks. Through those first two years, he was waived through to the AHL, serving as the organizational number 3 behind John Gibson and Ryan Miller. This included spending time as the taxi squad goalie for the Ducks during the pandemic shortened 2020–21 season. After Miller retired, he spent two season as Gibson’s back up before signing a one-year deal with the Panthers to back up Sergei Bobrovsky at a cap hit of $1.1M.
Since he left the Oilers, the team has deparately needed someone like Stolarz, with the exception of maybe two years. During the 2019–20 season, the Bakersfield Condors used three goalies in Stuart Skinner, Dylan, Wells and Shane Starrett, who all posted save percentages below .900.
The team had tried to rectify this issue in 2020–21, but signing Anton Forsberg was claimed on waivers by the Carolina Hurriances as insurance as they put Alex Nedeljokvic on waivers (who ended up being a Calder Candidate that year). Ken Holland did not counter claim, leaving the Oilers extremely short handed. Mike Smith got hurt prior to the season opener, leaving a Stuart Skinner on the bench who had yet to make his NHL debut and a rotation of Olivier Rodrigue and Dylan Wells as the taxi squad goaltender. It wasn’t until the Oilers claimed journeyman Troy Grosenick that the Oilers started to get some experience back into their crease. When Smith returned, Grosenick was put back on waivers and claimed, leaving the Oilers with only rookies behind Smith-Koskinen.
How this affected Skinner
The lack of depth did allow Stuart Skinner to flourish, as he started 31 times in the American league in 2020–21 (.914 SV%) and another 35 times in 2021–22 (.920 SV%). However, Stolarz would have been pushing at the NHL level by this point, giving the organization flexibility with their tandem that they had been frustrated with. As it stands, Stolarz is one of the few goalies to post positive Goals Saved Above Expected Numbers at the NHL level in the past five seasons.
Skinner showed that he could be an NHL option in 2021–22, before taking over the starting job in 2022–23 and now positing one of the better seasons in the league in 2023–24. Despite the tough start, Skinner has risen the ranks, and is now seventh in the league in Goals Saved Above Expected according to Clear Sight Analytics.
Even with Skinner establishing himself, the Jack Campbell saga has left the Oilers looking for other options. Calvin Pickard has been good in protected deployment, but Stolarz would present a measurable upgrade compared to what they have had in the back up slot.
Stolarz will be an unrestricted free agent this summer, and with the massive Bobrovsky contract and Spencer Knight pushing back into the NHL, it seems unlikely Florida will retain him. Meanwhile, the Oilers are set to buyout Campbell, with Pickard becoming a UFA himself while Olivier Rodrigue was recently extended but looks bound for Bakersfield. That sets up an opportunity to possibly right a wrong, and bring a talented goalie back into the fold in Edmonton and set up a strong duo for cheap.
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