The most uncomfortable conversations in Edmonton always seem to begin between the pipes. It’s been that way for years, through coaching changes and playoff heartbreaks.
Once again, the goaltending question has re-emerged as one of the most pressing and polarizing issues in Oil Country following the Edmonton Oilers’ less-than-ideal opening stretch of the season.
Lately, the chatter has centred on what the team can realistically afford and what kind of goaltending it actually takes to win deep into the playoffs. Top insiders like Frank Seravalli, Bob Stauffer, and David Pagnotta have all chimed in this week on whether Edmonton’s current tandem can truly get the job done.
Stuart Skinner and the reality of “league-average” goaltending
Frank Seravalli this week talked about the Oilers’ goaltending situation, saying that if people are starting to doubt whether Stuart Skinner is truly the answer, it’s a fair question at this point. He noted that Skinner has now started 118 games over the past three seasons and carries a .900 SV% which is just below league average.
“And you could say league average goaltending isn’t bringing a Stanley Cup to Edmonton, and you might be right. All those playoff numbers are pretty good,” Seravalli said.
He also referenced Bob Stauffer’s recent comments on Edmonton radio pointing out that Skinner actually outdueled Jake Oettinger, one of the league’s best, in consecutive Western Conference Final to help the Oilers reach the Cup Final.
But the bigger issue, Seravalli explained, is what options Edmonton realistically has.
“But what’s out there? This is an Edmonton team that doesn’t have a ton of cap space, that doesn’t have really much to trade in terms of prospects,” he said.
The Oilers really don’t have much cap space or a deep pool of tradeable prospects which makes finding an upgrade tough.
What to make of Calvin Pickard
Behind Skinner stands Calvin Pickard, a steady but limited safety net. Pickard is 2–2–1 in six games so far this season carrying a 4.00 GAA and an .836 save percentage. It has often been seen that he is a competent depth option, not a reliable tandem partner for a contender.
Pickard signed a two-year US$1M AAV extension in June 2024 providing budget-friendly stability in a tight cap structure. But at this stage of his career, Pickard isn’t pushing Skinner either. In a league where true tandems (like Swayman-Ullmark or Sorokin-Varlamov) have become the norm, Edmonton’s backup plan simply isn’t built to sustain long-term volatility.
The low-cost contracts make sense on paper, but the Oilers’ organizational goaltending depth from AHL call-ups to long-term prospects remains paper-thin.
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Juuse Saros is not to be, says Seravalli
When it comes to potential targets like Juuse Saros, Seravalli made it clear he wouldn’t go that route. He outlined several reasons.
“One, he’s entering or he’s in the first year of an eight-year contract that will take him all the way until age 39. Two, his numbers have not been good for two consecutive seasons now, this one and last.”
“And three, from an overall holistic perspective, for a team that doesn’t really have the cap space and hasn’t devoted the cap space to goaltending, in a lot of ways what you have is what you get with Stuart Skinner and what they can afford to pay on their cap the last few years, that’s sort of been what they’ve been left with.”
He also questioned whether Saros, at 5’11”, would truly move the needle. While Saros once ranked among the NHL’s elite and was the backbone of the Nashville Predators, there remain doubts about his size and his ability to carry a team deep in the playoffs.
Seravalli said he isn’t convinced that given the cost and long-term commitment, Saros would make Edmonton meaningfully better.
In fact, he wrapped up by saying that, from his perspective, Nashville should almost have to pay another team to take Saros’ contract at this point considering how long the deal runs and how underwhelming his performance has been lately.
The Saros speculation is actually unrealistic
Juuse Saros is still the “big fish” of the hypothetical trade market. But as both Seravalli and other insiders have emphasized, the fantasy of acquiring Saros collapses under the weight of the current situation in Edm.
Saros just signed an eight-year $61.92M deal ($7.74M AAV) and includes a full no-movement clause.
Trading for Saros would require significant assets potentially a 2027 first-round pick, Matthew Savoie, Adam Henrique, and salary retention from Nashville.
But the Predators aren’t in a teardown and Saros isn’t waiving his NMC to move north to a high-pressure Canadian market.
Simply put: Saros is not the answer.
Does a suitable goalie market even exist?
The uncomfortable truth is that there is no goalie market. Names like John Gibson or Jake Allen surface annually, but nothing materializes because the price never matches the product. As one of the oldest rules in the book, teams only trade goalies when they’re sure they have something better.
Who else is there then? Marc-Andre Fleury? Retired. Sebastian Cossa? Untouchable in Detroit’s eyes. Even a mid-tier name like Scott Wedgewood would cost a premium because of scarcity.
Edmonton’s previous inquiries confirmed by The Fourth Period’s David Pagnotta into Jeremy Swayman last season fizzled quickly, as Boston never intended to split its tandem.
So when Seravalli asks, “What’s out there?” the uncomfortable answer is nothing substantial. Every “solution” carries either a prohibitive cap hit, unrealistic acquisition cost, or questionable performance record.
The Oilers’ goaltending allocation roughly $3.6M total for Skinner and Pickard ranks near the bottom third in the league. It seems smart with cap constraints until the lack of flexibility becomes glaring.
Not just a goaltending problem
Lost in the noise is the plain truth that Edmonton’s defence remains a work in progress. Going back to the Oilers’ recent 9–1 drubbing in Colorado, “every shot Edmonton took, the Avs made sure a forechecker or defenceman was there to contest it.”
That’s the blueprint of the NHL’s elite teams. Defend as five, collapse early, block lanes, and help your goalie. The Oilers, by contrast, often leave their netminders isolated on cross-ice plays and secondary chances. As long as Darnell Nurse remains the de facto leader of a blue line that too often leaks high-danger chances even prime Andrei Vasilevskiy would struggle to maintain elite numbers behind this group.
The solution may not be a blockbuster, but rather a recalibration of priorities. Maybe Edmonton doesn’t need a better goalie but needs to make the goalie’s job easier.
Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire
