Stuart Skinner Reflects on Overcoming a Difficult 2024–25 Season with Oilers

Stuart Skinner’s time with the Edmonton Oilers was full of ups and downs. He had several strong seasons, a few not-so-strong, made two trips to the Stanley Cup Finals, and lost the starting job multiple times along the way.

All things considered, however, it should be seen as a relatively successful stint with his hometown team. He was the main goalie on an Oilers squad that reached the Finals for the first time since 2005-06—twice in a row, no less. That being said, those deep playoff runs weren’t always smooth, particularly 2024–25, when Calvin Pickard took over the crease for large portions of the first two rounds.

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Now in Pittsburgh, Skinner has moved on to a new chapter in his career and can reflect on the chaos of it all. In a recent interview with a team reporter, he discussed the struggles of his final full season in Edmonton and how he believes those challenges have helped him grow as both a player and a person.

Skinner said:

“My second year going to the Finals was a much more difficult road for me personally. Obviously, lost my job for a while and then kind of got played around with in the Finals for a couple of games. Just tough situations that really show you what you’re made of… Am I going to just quit and sulk and sit around, or am I going to be resilient and keep on working, and put a smile on my face even though you really don’t feel like you want to? So it really shows you to be a man in situations that sometimes you really don’t want to.”

The 27-year-old Skinner has gone 9-5-5 since joining the Penguins, sporting a 2.88 goals-against average and a .889 save percentage in those 19 starts. He’s a pending UFA in the third and final year of the three-year, $7.8 million extension he signed with the Oilers back in 2022.

Being the starting goalie in a Canadian market always comes with pressure—and that’s especially the case when the team has two of the best players in the world, Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, and expectations that are nothing short of winning it all.

Skinner has moved into a situation that was just like that for a decade-plus in Pittsburgh alongside Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, but the pressure isn’t the same now, given that they’ve already won three championships and are in their late thirties. While his numbers have dipped slightly of late, the new environment and very different circumstances appear to have done him well.

Whether Skinner has a long-term future with the Penguins remains unknown, but he’ll have the opportunity to prove he’s deserving of an extension with his performance during their playoff push down the stretch.

Next: Insider Offers Real Reason Behind Connor McDavid’s Team-Friendly Extension