June 29, 2025 by Ryan Lotsberg

It’s clear that the Oilers need an improvement on the goaltending they received last season, especially in the Stanley Cup Final. Potential options are disappearing fast. In case you missed it, I wrote about how the Edmonton Oilers missing out on John Gibson was for the best. The St. Louis Blues extended Joel Hofer on Saturday, which took him out of the market. I don’t think he was ever truly available, but he was an intriguing option.

Related: The Oilers missing out on Gibson is for the best

So, what’s left? Let me start by saying Ilya Sorokin is not an option. There is no way that the New York Islanders would get rid of an elite goaltender that is under contract for seven more years unless he demands a trade, and there have been no reports of such a request. I don’t think they’re tearing it down and rebuilding. Even if they wanted to go that route, there’s no reason for them to get rid of a goaltender that could provide stability behind a developing team.

Jeremy Swayman is another popular goalie on the wish lists of many Oilers fans. The strongest argument to be made for the 26-year old is his career .922 save percentage in the playoffs. Swayman and the Bruins had a lengthy contract negotiation that was finally settled two days before last season started. The two sides agreed on an eight-year, $66 million contract ($8.25 million AAV). The first season of that contract didn’t go as well as either side hoped it would. Swayman went 22-29-7 with a .892 save percentage and a 3.11 goals against average (which were both worse than Stuart Skinner’s numbers). The Bruins appear to be entering a transitional period after trading their captain Brad Marchand at the trade deadline. I’d make the same argument for the Bruins keeping Swayman as I made for the Islanders keeping Sorokin. If you have a great goaltender under team control, then you hold on to him regardless of which phase of the competitive cycle you’re in.

Ukko Pekka-Luukkonen of the Buffalo Sabres is an intriguing option; but just like the others, I don’t think he’s actually available.

Thatcher Demko is rumoured to be available; but his injury situation, his cap hit, and his likely acquisition cost all scream “run”. The Oilers should stay as far away from that problem as they possibly can.

As much as Oilers fans want the team to go out and get a goalie that’s a true number one option without a doubt, I just don’t think that it’s a possibility because they aren’t as available as many fans seem to believe they are. Gibson was clearly available at a price that didn’t break the bank, but I have doubts about his ability to repeat his performance from last season given how the first half of this decade has gone for him.

If I was to trade for a goalie, I would want someone in their mid to late 20s because that’s when most goaltenders peak. That means taking a chance on someone that hasn’t established himself as a bona fide number one NHL goalie yet because anyone with a player in that age range that has established himself as a bona fide number one NHL goalie would be highly unlikely to trade him. This goalie would have to come from a struggling team or an organization with a crowded crease.

Perhaps a better option out of the Canucks organization is Arturs Silovs. The 24-year just posted a .930 save percentage and a 2.01 GAA in the Calder Cup playoffs en route to winning the Calder Cup and the Calder Cup playoffs MVP award with the Abbotsford Canucks. He also guided Latvia to a bronze medal in the 2023 Men’s World Hockey Championship, which was the first medal of any colour for Latvia at that event. Silovs was pressed into action during last year’s Stanley Cup playoffs. He led the Canucks past the Nashville Predators, but fell to the Oilers in the second round. Silovs has had a slow start at the NHL level, but he has NHL playoff experience and he’s at the age where he will break out soon if it happens at all. The Canucks just re-signed Kevin Lankinen to a long-term deal, and Demko might also sign an extension. Demko’s injury might also make him hard to trade. Silovs might be getting squeezed out, and someone is going to reap the benefits of that. Why shouldn’t that team be the Oilers?

After stopping 695 shots on goal throughout the playoffs, Artūrs Šilovs had been awarded the Jack A. Butterfield Trophy, becoming this year’s MVP! pic.twitter.com/IHZCQQzxFZ

— Abbotsford Canucks (@abbycanucks) June 24, 2025

Arvid Soderblom of the Chicago Blackhawks is another young goaltender that might be getting squeezed out. The Blackhawks traded for Spencer Knight at the trade deadline, and they have Laurent Brossoit signed at $3.3 million for next season. Soderblom will be a restricted free agent on Tuesday. Soderblom’s .898 save percentage and 3.18 GAA don’t leap off the page, but he took a big step forward in a career-high 36 games last season. He fared better than Skinner in goals saved above expected per 60 and goals saved above expected last season. Soderblom finished with positive values in both metrics last season, which suggests that his other numbers could improve on a better team.

Those are the two young goaltenders that I would target this summer. I would choose Soderblom over Silovs simply because he has a longer track record of NHL play, but Silovs could be a worthwhile gamble as well. I would expect either one to work in tandem with Skinner.

This free agent class is underwhelming. Jake Allen is the top available free agent goaltender. He had a great season with the New Jersey Devils in 2024-25, but he’s 34 years old and is likely headed for a payday that will make him an unwise spending decision.

Former Oiler Anton Forsberg would be an interesting option. He put up a .907 save percentage and a 2.73 GAA with the Ottawa Senators in a backup role last season. As much as I like him, I don’t think he will be in a hurry to sign here after the Oilers signed him and promptly put him on waivers in an effort to get him on the taxi squad for the COVID shortened 2020-21 season.

If the Oilers were to go the free agency route for a goalie, then I would go with Alex Lyon. Lyon had three consecutive seasons with a .904 or higher save percentage prior to last season (.898). I realize that could be a sign of the 32-year old’s impending dropoff; but he has had positive values in GSAx/60 and GAAx in each of the last three seasons according to Moneypuck, and he has finished ahead of Skinner in those metrics in each of those seasons. I also don’t believe he would command a massive AAV as his previous cap hit was only $900k.

The reality is that none of the goalies I’ve mentioned in this piece are locks to outperform Skinner or Calvin Pickard. There’s one simple move that the Oilers can make that could potentially be more impactful than any trade, which is one that I think should be made regardless of which goalies show up to Oilers training camp in September.

According to Jason Gregor, the contract of Oilers goalie coach Dustin Schwartz is set to expire on July 1, and there has been chatter that suggests that he won’t be back with the Oilers next season. Schwartz has been with the Oilers since 2014. I wrote a piece detailing the performance of Oilers goaltenders under Schwartz prior to the start of the 2023 season. Cam Talbot, Mikko Koskinen, and Mike Smith were the three goalies that had played meaningful minutes under Schwartz prior to the 2023-24 season. All three of those goalies had their best seasons as Oilers in their second year with the team, and they all declined in their third year with the team.

Related: Deep Dive: Dustin Schwartz

Skinner broke the trend by having his best season in his rookie year, but the year three nosedive was in full effect with Skinner in 2024-25. I can’t help but wonder how Skinner would fare with a new voice. Four goalies in a row have failed to improve beyond two seasons with Schwartz. While the data doesn’t support a massive jump in Skinner’s performance at this stage of his career, there’s reason to believe that a new goalie coach could infuse some life into Skinner’s game.

There’s a narrative out there that Oilers goalies always do better after they leave the Oilers, and Schwartz has been blamed for that. Devan Dubnyk is always the first example in that argument, but Dubnyk was not a member of the team when Schwartz joined the organization in November 2014. Talbot is the only Oilers starting goaltender to go on to another NHL team after escaping Schwartz’s tutelage, and he recovered from his disaster of a 2018-19 season. If you want to believe that narrative, then the implication is that goalies do better once they get away from Schwartz. If that’s true, then why wouldn’t Skinner improve under a different goalie coach?

We also have to remember that Talbot had twins during the 2018-19 season. Any parent understands how difficult home life is with one baby, let alone two. Skinner had his second child in January after having his first child in January 2023. It’s not an excuse for his performance post-January, but the math adds up. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Skinner’s numbers improve next season as a result of having more time to adjust to life with two children over the offseason.

If you follow my work or listen to me on Oilerslive regularly, you know that I don’t favour panic moves. The Oilers are in prime position for a panic move right now, which would be trading Skinner after having lost a second consecutive Stanley Cup Final and before signing the best player in the world to a contract extension. Panic is NEVER the solution.

Change for the sake of change is an emotional change, and you can’t make roster decisions based on emotion. It’s frustrating that the Oilers have lost two consecutive Stanley Cup Finals. They gave up too many goals in the series. The goalies weren’t amazing, but the team in front of them also left them high and dry consistently throughout the series. Remember that Skinner had better numbers than Bobrovsky in the 2024 Stanley Cup Final. It isn’t fair to argue that the Oilers can’t win with Skinner because they have failed twice in a row. The Oilers lost the last two Stanley Cup Finals because they didn’t produce enough offence, and the Panthers outclassed the Oilers all over the ice in too many of the games. If a change is to be made, it needs to be the right change for the right reasons. A lateral move for the sake of making one isn’t wise, especially if it’s made out of frustration.

I have all the respect in the world for Pickard, but I would choose to upgrade his position over seeking an upgrade on the homegrown second round draft pick that has been to back-to-back Stanley Cup Finals by the age of 26. I’m not going to be upset if the Oilers run it back with Skinner and Pickard as long as they have a new goalie coach. I want to see how Skinner fares with a new goalie coach. It would be nice to see how he does with a higher level of competition in the crease as well.

I’m also not going to be upset if the Oilers add a new goalie to take over for Pickard. I don’t think “upset” is the right word for how I would feel if Skinner was to get traded. I think “disappointed” would be better. If he is unable to figure it out with a new goalie coach, then I would be fully open to moving Skinner; but this isn’t the right time to do it based on the available options.