The Detroit Red Wings could consider trade for Oilers' goaltender Stuart Skinner following turbulent Stanley Cup Final
It's no secret that the spotlight has been on Edmonton Oilers netminder Stuart Skinner throughout this year's Stanley Cup Finals as the 26-year-old allowed 19 goals through five starts and was pulled twice. Skinner's play was one of the most talked about reasons why the Oilers struggled to keep up with the Florida Panthers as they beat Edmonton for the second straight year, winning back-to-back Stanley Cups.
Some changes to the Oilers lineup have been discussed in the media with some insiders suggesting a potential change in net. Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman told a radio show Wednesday that it’ll be “interesting to see whether the Oilers stick with ‘Skinner-plus’ or look to overhaul their entire goaltending tandem.”
Many teams will be looking to get a netminder like Skinner, who has certainly had bad days on very public stages but has proven to be a reliable goaltender with a 97-54-14 record and a 2.72 goals-against average over the past four seasons, ranking 12th among goalies with 150 or more starts in that span and ahead of notable names like Nashville’s Juuse Saros, St. Louis’ Jordan Binnington, and Vancouver’s Thatcher Demko.
The upside of a 26-year-old goaltender that has played in 50 playoff games and still has room to grow and mature is very hard to find. It could make for a buying opportunity for the Detroit Red Wings, who were noted as being in the market for a goaltender and the Oilers could look to add more players to their lineup in a deal for Skinner.
Detroit is right on the verge of being a playoff team and a goaltender like Skinner may be the best available this summer as the most notable free agents are Robin Lehner, Alexandar Georgiev and Ilya Samsonov.
The Red Wings have more than enough NHL-ready talent or prospects on the verge of making the jump that the Oilers will salivate over and could only require two or three to get a deal done. Edmonton has very little draft capital or in way of their prospect pool and could build this up with a Skinner deal.
He could work as a perfect bridge goaltender as Detroit fans wait for high end prospect Sebastian Cossa to continue developing with AHL Grand Rapids. His contract is also very affordable at $2.6 million per season and could allow the Red Wings to cut ties with Skinner if next season goes poorly.
The move simply operates on the principle that the Red Wings need to improve on their backend that finished with the 12th worst goals against average last season. The gamble on a solid regular season netminder with a wealth of playoff experience is one that Steve Yzerman and company should at least consider with how bad the goalie market currently is.
