RDOilerfan wrote on Thu, 27 October 2022 12:24

inverno76 wrote on Thu, 27 October 2022 11:52 RDOilerfan wrote on Thu, 27 October 2022 11:12 I think the Oilers did it absolutely perfect with Skinner so far. They didn't rush him. Let him play a ton in the AHL where he got better and better every season. Gave him a taste in the NHL with 13 games last year and so far, it looks like they have developed a more than capable good NHL back up who has the potential to be a home grown quality NHL starter. I have a hard time saying they should have done anything different with this particular player. At this point it is hard to disagree with how they handled everything, especially considering how they had to manage Koski and Smith last year, but it was such a weird way for Skinner to finish his NHL season. Pitches a shut out and never sees the NHL again until the start of this season. If they had the balls to run Skinner for a bit to see if he was legitimate and send Koskinen to Bakersfield, do they have the same player we see today? Do the Oilers go on their playoff run? do they sign Campbell to 5 years? Lots of alternate universe scenarios I would have loved to see play out....or not. Right now I really like what we have between the pipes, and if both are playing like this moving forward then it is a great problem to have. Just my opinion but I don't see how they could play him very many more games last year when you have 2 signed goalies in Koskinen and Smith. It's got nothing to do with not having the balls to send Koskinen down, I just don't think they should have done that. Even if they did play Skinner a few more games, the Oilers are supposed to be a cup contending team and turning the starters job over to a 23 yr old with next to no NHL experience in my opinion would have been a mistake. Plus you add in he's a local guy, there are going to be added pressures with playing for the hometown team especially as a goalie. So I think they needed to sign a Campbell or someone else capable of taking the lead. The league, especially the West has turned into a 2 goalie system in my opinion. So having a guy like Campbell who's capable of playing 50-55 good games then have Skinner get into 30ish which would allow him to play a fair amount but not quite be prime time is perfect. Plus at 5 mill, the contract isn't so much that you can have Skinner, at some point sign him to a decent number for a back up , like 2-2.5 mill per, and if you are paying your tandem 7-7.5 mill, even 8, that isn't that bad. If Skinner in a few years supplants Campbell, teams always need goaltending and 5 mill isn't a horrible number to trade.

It would be great if we had a great sense that we had a firm starter in Skinner, but while he's had some good games, he hasn't made it crystal clear that he's a bonafide NHL starter yet. Even this year, he had a great game in relief of Campbell versus Calgary, then he wasn't great against Buffalo, and then a great game last night. It's a bit uneven so far.

Whatever the case, we need two goalies, and it would be a tremendous risk by the franchise to take a rookie goalie as their starter, or even a sophomore if he'd had a few more starts last year. Ideally, he plays a third of the games this year and contends for the all-rookie team.

As much of a failure as Oilers management has been historically, I can't pillory them over signing another goalie this summer. It is a good problem to have if Skinner pushes Campbell for the top job.

"Thinking that a bad team's best players are the reason the team is bad is the "Tambellini re-signing Lennart Petrell" of sports opinions." @Woodguy55
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