The Edmonton Oilers are on pace to play Stuart Skinner over 70 games this season if nothing changes.
After their most recent loss the Edmonton Oilers need to take a good hard look at their goalie situation. Jack Campbell is floundering in the AHL. Stuart Skinner has either been excellent or bad. Calvin Pickard was great for the Bakersfield Condors but has yet to see NHL action. Olivier Rodrigue is doing well in the minors where he will likely stay for the rest of the season.
At any rate, they need to find a goaltending solution. Whether that means making a trade or calling up a different goalie.
The Oilers have played 16 games, Skinner has started 12 of them - equating 75% of the games the Oilers have played. With 66 games left in the year he is projecting to have another 50 starts this year. Is Skinner ready to play 62 games? That would place him in the company of Juuse Saros and Connor Hellebuyck as far as games played goes.
It's important to keep in mind that my projection is based off of Campbell being the second goalie - not Pickard. Given that Pickard hasn't played yet, it's safe to assume that he will only see the net of the Oilers play a back to back.
The Oilers have ten back to back scenarios over the course of the rest of the year. That's 10 games that Pickard is virtually guaranteed to play - which leaves 56 games for Skinner to start. If that ends up being the case he would finish the year with 68 games played.
We saw Skinner's quality of play decline during last year's playoff run. One theory is that he played too much and was exhausted during the post season. If that's truly the case then it's in the Oilers best interest to prevent Skinner from playing more than 55 games.
Until the Oilers have a reliable back up it is very risky to try to have Skinner take on a true starter's work load without the safety net of another proven option if things go off the rails.
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