The Pittsburgh Penguins got a big game out of goalie Arturs Silovs to stay alive in their playoff series against the Philadelphia Flyers. And Silovs' success means goalie Stuart Skinner's tenure with the Pens could come to an end.
The Pittsburgh Penguins kept their faint Stanley Cup playoff hopes alive Saturday, beating the Philadelphia Flyers to cut Philly’s series lead to 3-1. The Flyers outshot the Penguins 30-21 in Game 4, but Pens goalie Arturs Silovs stepped up with a high-impact performance, stopping 19 Philadelphia shots for a .933 save percentage.
Given Silovs’ ability to keep Pittsburgh in the series, it’s looking like we’ve might've seen the last of goalie Stuart Skinner as a Penguin.
Skinner was in the crease for Pittsburgh’s first three games against the Flyers. In that span, he posted a .873 SP, losing all three games. In other words, Skinner did not deliver the performances the Pens needed to be competitive in this series.
Now, Silovs isn’t a flawless goalie. In three of his final four regular-season appearances this year, Silovs put up an SP of .839 or worse. But Silovs’ stretches of competitiveness, combined with his age (25) and $850,000 salary, make him the attractive choice for Penguins coach Dan Muse.
Silovs had a .888 SP and 3.07 GAA in the regular season this year, but in his defense, the Penguins’ defense finished in the bottom five of the league in terms of goals allowed. Silovs does have to share the blame for Pittsburgh’s defensive woes, but he showed Saturday he was capable of playing a calm and measured game.
The goalie Penguins GM Kyle Dubas wanted to see when he acquired Silovs from the Vancouver Canucks in 2025 is what he saw from Silovs in Game 4. And that almost certainly means Skinner will be on the sidelines for the rest of the first round.
Furthermore, unless Pittsburgh pulls off a massive upset by winning its final three games against Philadelphia, we could be looking at the end of Skinner’s time as a Penguin.
Skinner will be a UFA this summer, and he’s likely to get interest from several teams needing goalie depth. He split his appearances this year between the Edmonton Oilers and the Penguins, and his individual numbers are nearly the same for both clubs.
Stuart Skinner (Eric Hartline-Imagn Images)He had put up an 11-8-4 record, a .891 SP and 2.83 GAA in 23 appearances for the Oilers. For the Penguins, Skinner posted a 12-9-5 record, a .885 SP and a 2.99 GAA in 27 contests.
So, in a market where decent netminding is at a premium, Skinner is likely to attract attention from more than one team, and likely won't break the bank on his next contract.
For the past three seasons, Skinner has had a cap hit of $2.6 million, and his next deal may not be significantly higher than that.
Skinner has proven by now that he can be part of an NHL goalie tandem. Skinner can’t be the type of workhorse who appears in 50 games or more, but if he’s splitting the action and riding short waves where he’s at his peak, Skinner can make decent contributions.
But after the way the playoffs have played out, Skinner’s time in Pittsburgh could be at an end. Even if Silovs isn’t the Penguins' long-term solution in net, they’ve got youngsters Joel Blomqvist and Sergei Murashov in the pipeline.
It was worth the trade gamble to see what Skinner had to offer, but it just hasn’t worked out for him in Pittsburgh. However, that doesn’t mean Skinner will be ignored on the UFA market if he gets there.
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