Stuart Skinner cannot catch a break and made things a whole lot worse for himself when he said that his save percentages, at the end of the day, carry little weight. The Edmonton Oilers goalie has been at the receiving end of some of the harshest criticisms on social media, with many calling for his outright dismissal.
To make matters worse, Oilers GM Stan Bowman has now called Skinner and Calvin Pickard out for their far from exemplary performances, labeling them as just “average.” Skinner maintained that the team’s collective performance is leaps and bounds more important than his personal feat, but bad news for Skinner and the rest of the lineup: Bowman believes the team’s camaraderie also falls short, affecting the Oilers’ abilities to produce.
Stan Bowman Delivers Brutally Honest Assessment of the Edmonton Oilers
The men in blue and orange managed to save face at Rogers Place by snatching a 5-4 overtime victory against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Monday. The win came at a much-needed juncture, right after Edmonton fell flat on its face 9-1 against Nathan MacKinnon’s Colorado Avalanche. Connor McDavid, Jack Roslovic, and Jake Walman came through in all their glory to clinch the Oilers’ victory against the Blue Jackets.
But the goaltending remained underwhelming. Although Skinner’s performance was relatively better compared to the disaster that transpired against the Avs, it still fell short. Despite HC Kris Knoblauch’s insistence that the team’s netminding situation was far from being a problem, the team’s GM has been unable to display the same kind of faith in the Skinner-Pickard duo.
It’s not just the goalies that Bowman has a bone to pick with; in his recent interaction with the Canadian Press, the GM questioned the team’s camaraderie as a whole.
“Our goalies have been average — haven’t been elite, and they haven’t been bad. Sort of the way our team has been. I don’t know if they performed really any differently than our forwards and our defence. We’re just not clicking as a group,” Bowman admitted, as reported by TSN.
However, Bowman is unsure if the goaltending is as big a problem as it is often made to be. Recently, Elliotte Friedman came forward with a scathing critique of the Oilers’ defense personnel, saying that the group does little to intimidate opponents. According to Friedman, Edmonton’s defense should be held more responsible than the netminders.
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However, Bowman’s biggest concern lies in the fact that the team lacks the kind of “connect” one would want them to have by this point in the season. Having said that, there is little he can do except wait for the roster to find its rhythm and settle down. “Unfortunately, it takes time to sort through that and have everyone find their roles. But we’re not connected the way we probably should be after 17 games.”
One cannot help but wonder if two consecutive Stanley Cup losses have taken such a significant toll on the Oilers that it continues to interfere with their game to this day. However, whatever the hiccup, the team needs to find a way to solve it sooner rather than later.
