Stuart Skinner Expresses Gratitude for Penguins Fans Amid Challenging Year

The 2025–26 season certainly has not gone the way Stuart Skinner would have expected, though in the end, it might be turning out for the best.

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Early-season ups and downs with the Edmonton Oilers led to Skinner being sent to the Pittsburgh Penguins as part of the return package for Tristan Jarry. Initial assumptions were that his time in the Steel City wouldn’t last long, with the possibility that he could even be flipped again before the deadline. Instead, he stepped up as their 1A option in net and is an important reason why the Penguins will be playing playoff hockey for the first time since 2021–22.

Pittsburgh has welcomed Skinner with open arms immediately since he arrived, and after Sunday’s game in Washington, he was asked about the Penguins fans, whom he expressed his gratitude for—especially given some of the tough times he went through in Edmonton.

Skinner said:

“Yeah, oh my gosh, I appreciate it. You know, obviously for me it means so much. There’s a lot of things that you’ve got to go through in a career, and to feel the gratitude from the fans, it means the world to me. Whenever I make a save and I hear the ‘Stu’ chants, it warms my heart every time,”

The 27-year-old Skinner is a pending UFA in the third and final season of the three-year, $7.8 million extension he signed with the Oilers back in 2022. How he fares in his first postseason in Pittsburgh could go a long way in determining his future with the team.

Skinner took a lot of criticism for his play in Edmonton, and some of it was warranted. It reached a point where a change felt necessary for both the player and the team, and so far, it appears to have been a great mental and physical reset for him. It should be interesting for both the Penguins and the Oilers to keep an eye on each other’s former netminders in these playoffs—that is, if Tristan Jarry even gets into any game action.

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