1 trade overreaction Oilers must make early in NHL season
The Edmonton Oilers may have advanced to the Stanley Cup Final in each of the past two seasons, though they would ultimately fall short on both occasions at the hands of the Florida Panthers.
The success of the Panthers in both series came in large part thanks to the goaltending of Sergei Bobrovsky, who has firmly elevated himself to the status of best goaltender in Florida franchise history and a prime candidate to have his jersey number retired and hung in the rafters of Amerant Bank Arena when he eventually hangs up the pads.
However, the Oilers still don’t have a bonafide starting goaltender that they can call their own. Just as they have in each of the past two seasons, they’ve decided to move forward with the questionable tandem of Stuart Skinner and Calvin Pickard, neither of whom strikes fear into the hearts of the opposition. While both goaltenders had their moments of individual success in the past two postseason runs, they ultimately faltered when it mattered most.
Things haven’t exactly gotten off to the most promising of starts in the Oilers’ crease this season, which just about everyone could have predicted. The woes of Skinner were on display early on in a matchup against the rival Calgary Flames in which he badly misplayed the puck and allowed Blake Coleman to score one of the easiest goals of his career.
Skinner also woefully misplayed the puck in a recent game against the Utah Mammoth, allowing Nick Schmaltz to steal the puck and feed a wide-open Barrett Hayton for an easy tap-in.
The Oilers finished the month of October with a 5-4-3 record and 13 points, which is good for fourth overall in the Pacific Division. However, Skinner would finish October with a pedestrian 3-3-2 record, a 2.59 goals-against average, and a subpar .896 save percentage. His one shutout isn’t going to be enough to fool most Edmonton fans into thinking that their goaltending problems are solved.
Meanwhile, Pickard has countered with an equally unimpressive stat line of 2-1-1 with a 3.50 goals-against average and an uninspiring .846 save percentage.
The Oilers must make a goaltending upgrade
Oilers general manager Stan Bowman has truly befuddled Edmonton fans across Alberta by not making a clear goaltending upgrade, especially after a more reliable goaltender very well may have led to a Stanley Cup win in either of the last two postseason runs.
While Bowman did acquire depth goaltender Connor Ingram in a trade with the Utah Mammoth not long after he was cleared by the NHL Players Assistance Program, Ingram isn’t the solution that Edmonton badly needs. He
“Goalies are no different than anyone else. If there’s a way to upgrade your team and have a surefire improvement on your roster, we’d have to look at that,” Bowman said via NHL.com. “But the reality of it is, those situations are very rare, not just for goalies, but for established players that are going to come in and clearly be better than who you have; that’s not that common for it to happen. So, I would say that if that situation were to present itself two months from now, I wouldn’t rule it out. But I think we’re in a much better position today than we were yesterday relative to our goaltending depth.”
Both Skinner and Pickard are eligible for unrestricted free agency when the calendar flips to July 2026, and so far, Bowman doesn’t appear to have made any progress regarding a contract extension for either of them.
“Yeah, we haven’t talked to them about extensions,” he said. “Not to say that we won’t, but I think you’re right. Sometimes that goes both ways, where you get a really motivated goalie and they want to prove that they’re the guy for the future. So now, we’ve essentially got three guys in that boat in the last year of their contracts, and we’ll have to sort out what we’re going to do with our goaltending over the next 10 months. But for now, that’s not something we’re looking at.”
Whether he has a plan up his sleeve for the offseason remains to be seen. Right now, Edmonton’s goaltending tandem of Skinner and Pickard costs a combined $3.6 million, which is certainly a bargain. However, when a team pays for bargain goaltending, it often gets bargain results. The Oilers won’t win the Stanley Cup without making a clear upgrade in net, and it’s up to Bowman to make it happen.
Dan Campbell’s brutally honest assessment of Lions should scare rest of NFL
The Detroit Lions have been one of the best teams in the NFL this season. Even after losing both of their coordinators this offseason, Detroit seemingly hasn't lost a step. They come out of their bye week with a 5-2 record, scoring key wins against some of the top contenders in the process.
If the Lions are to be believed, they still aren't playing to their full potential. Head coach Dan Campbell believes that Detroit still has another gear this season. The Lions HC said that they could stand to be better at playing complementary football over the course of the season.
“I really believe we haven't played our best ball yet collectively in all three phases,” Campbell said, per Eric Woodyard of ESPN. “And that's really what we're trying to get to here is how can we sharpen ourselves. We know it's going to take every phase. Every game's different, and one unit may have to pick up the slack, but we need to start playing complete ball across the board. And just keep improving — like with all these teams that we're in the race with right now. So, that's where we're at.”
The Lions have highlighted four key areas for improvement during their bye week. That includes their third-down efficiency on both sides of the ball. Detroit is ranked 22nd in third-down conversion rate this season with just 37.7%, far below their 47% rate last season. On the other side, they're allowing a similar third-down conversion rate on defense, which is higher than their 32.5% rate last year.
The two other areas that the Lions focused on during the bye week are their red zone defense and Jameson Williams' involvement on offense. While Detroit's defense has been generally solid this season, it's allowing a whopping 63.6% of its opponents' red zone trips to end in a touchdown. On the other hand, Williams has had an up-and-down season thanks in large part to his fluctuating target rate. Detroit's offense is at its best when the threat of Jamo downfield opens up the rest of the offense. Finding ways to get him in space is going to be crucial for this team moving forward.
The Lions open the second half of their season with a matchup against the Minnesota Vikings at home. Will Detroit apply what they've installed during the bye week in their next games?
