The Goalie Decision the Oilers Really Got Wrong

There is a temptation to look back at the Edmonton Oilers’ decision to sign Jack Campbell and simply say, “Well, that didn't work.” True enough. It didn't. But that may be missing the more interesting part of the story.

The Oilers didn't just have to decide between Jack Campbell and Darcy Kuemper in the summer of 2022. They also had to decide what to do with Stuart Skinner. And that decision may have mattered more.

Stuart Skinner was a young goalie when Jack Campbell arrived in Edmonton.

Skinner had played 14 NHL games when Campbell arrived. He was 23 years old and had virtually no NHL experience. Yet within a year, he was playing 50 games. The following season, he played 59. That's quite a jump.

Maybe Skinner was ready. Maybe he wasn't. That's the difficult thing about young goalies. You don't really know until you put them in the crease. But there is a big difference between giving a young goalie an opportunity and making him carry a workload.

Goalies are strange creatures. A young forward can play 12 minutes a night while you figure out whether he belongs. A young defenceman can be sheltered on the third pair. You can move a young player up and down the lineup. There isn't quite the same luxury in goal. Once the goalie is in there, he's in there.

Having an experienced goalie around Skinner would have benefited Skinner's career.

That's why the idea of having an experienced goaltender like Kuemper around Skinner is so intriguing in retrospect. It would have given Edmonton another option. Skinner could have played his 40 or 45 games. Kuemper could have handled the rest. If Skinner struggled, there was somebody to take over for a while.

Instead, the Oilers ended up with Campbell, who turned out not to be that guy. And this is where hindsight can become unfair.

Campbell was not some ridiculous signing at the time. He was 30 years old, coming off two strong seasons in Toronto, and had finally established himself as a starter. Edmonton had just watched Mike Smith's career come to an end. They needed a goalie.

The mistake wasn't necessarily believing Campbell could be the answer. The mistake may have been failing to build enough protection around the possibility that he wouldn't be.

The Oilers might have created an environment where Skinner developed.

Good organizations don't simply make the right bet. They make sure the wrong bet doesn't destroy them. The Oilers made a reasonable bet on Campbell. It turned out to be the wrong bet. And the real cost wasn't just the money left on the salary cap.

It was the four years spent figuring out what might have happened if they had given Skinner a little more time to become an NHL starter. As it was, the goalie situation evolved, and Skinner was eventually traded for Tristan Jarry.