It took some time for Stuart Skinner to confront the deep disappointment of the previous season`s Game 7 Stanley Cup Final loss.
“Definitely. Internally, there was something buried. That`s kind of an easy way to do it, instead of thinking about it and trying to process it. I stuffed it down,” Skinner recalled. “I normally open up the wound pretty quickly, but it took me a little while into the summer. It bit me in the butt halfway through.”
Now that he has tackled that past pain, the difficult experiences from last season have positioned him to potentially lift the Stanley Cup this year.
“I feel completely different. I think everybody in our room feels different. Because we`ve already done it,” he said before their Stanley Cup Final rematch against the Florida Panthers. “We`ve already gone through it. And to be honest, we`ve gone through the worst-case scenario: losing Game 7.”
Skinner, 26, is in his fifth NHL season, all of them with the Edmonton Oilers, the team that drafted him 78th overall in 2017. An Edmonton native, he grew up an Oilers fan, cheering for forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, his favorite player growing up — and with whom he now shares a dressing room.
“It`s pretty amazing. He was obviously my favorite player growing up and being able to play with him has been one of the coolest things,” Skinner said.
The Game 7 loss to the Panthers last season was therefore crushing on multiple levels. The Oilers had staged a dramatic comeback from a 3-0 series deficit to force a decisive seventh game, only to lose 2-1, ending their chance to hoist the Stanley Cup. Captain Connor McDavid was visibly emotional after the game, and Skinner`s tears began before the post-series handshake line.
It wasn`t just squandering a chance at a childhood dream of winning the Cup as an Oiler. Skinner felt he had, in some way, let his country down, which has been waiting for another Canadian team to win the Cup since Montreal did in 1993.
“It`s a little bit tougher because it`s a Canadian market. All of Canada`s watching you. All of Canada`s disappointed in you,” he said.
Skinner buried all of this for as long as he could. He told his wife, Chloe, that he was “totally fine,” to which she responded, “I don`t think you are.” Skinner said she was instrumental in helping him “open the wound” and process that anguish. He talked to her, friends, teammates, and coaches about the devastation he felt.
“I got a lot of people in my corner where I`m able to `word vomit` a bit, let all the emotion out,” he said.
He also journaled extensively. It`s something Skinner has done since he was 18 to “calm the mind down” and be as present as possible.
“I think that`s kind of my main goal through all this. I think last year, with all the emotions, you can sometimes get away from the present moment,” he said. “There are just little tools that can really help you.”
Then, a few weeks before the 2024-25 season began, Skinner revisited the pain: he finally watched Game 7.
“I`m not too sure why. Maybe for a little motivation. Maybe to get the emotions out of it,” he said.
He watched the two goals he allowed. He thought about the handshake line, when he congratulated his opponent, Florida goalie Sergei Bobrovsky, despite being an emotional wreck in that moment.
“That`s hard to do, obviously, when you`re in the midst of being crushed and in the midst of crying. So yeah, in a moment like that, you got to be a man about it and be kind to everybody,” Skinner said. “I mean, it`s one of their best days of their lives, so I`m not going to have my own little pity party with them.”
Bobrovsky remembers that interaction as well.
“I tried to support him, obviously. I said that he`s played great. He gave it all. It was a good fight. It was a good battle,” the Panthers goalie said.
Skinner finished rewatching Game 7, and that was it. “Now, it`s in the past,” he stated.
This is characteristic of Stuart Skinner. When adversity strikes, he processes it and channels its energy into a positive force for personal growth.
A lifetime of hardships, a lifetime of moments of success. All the things you experience and you think it`s the end of the world. You get a choice to make in that moment: to either get up or to give up. I`ve always had the true belief that if you just never, ever give up, that you`ll be able to do it. And I believe that for anybody.
Being Stuart Skinner in the Stanley Cup playoffs is certainly not easy.
“Yeah, he`s had some ups and downs. I think people focus probably more on the downs and the ups,” commented Oilers GM Stan Bowman.
Skinner became the full-time starter in 2022-23, giving up at least three goals in six of his 12 appearances as Edmonton exited in the second round to the Vegas Golden Knights.
The following season solidified the “roller coaster” reputation of Skinner`s playoff performances. He was benched in the second round against the Vancouver Canucks after allowing four goals on 15 shots in their Game 3 loss. Calvin Pickard started the next two games, splitting them 1-1. With the Oilers facing elimination, Skinner returned to the crease, giving up just one goal in their Game 6 win and two goals in their Game 7 victory.
Despite the criticism he faced, Skinner performed as required in the subsequent rounds, limiting the Dallas Stars to just one goal in each of the final two games of that series and then allowing two or fewer goals in the last four games of the Stanley Cup Final loss to Florida.
To that end, the 2025 postseason has been vintage Skinner. He lost the first two games in the first round against the Los Angeles Kings, giving up 11 total goals, and was benched again for Pickard, who went 6-0 until an injury brought Skinner back into the starter`s role in their Game 3 loss to Vegas.
“We`re after the same goal. Obviously, he would like to be in the net. It was his job to support me, and right now, it`s my job to support him,” Pickard said before the Final.
Since Game 4 against the Golden Knights, Skinner has been arguably the best goaltender in the playoffs: 7-1, with a .938 save percentage and a 1.54 goals-against average, his benching as much a distant memory as it was last postseason.
“It`s kind of the story of the Oilers. We get knocked down, we just keep on getting back up, right? You`ve seen that in all the playoffs this year, as individuals and as a team,” Skinner said.
Opposing fans and media have been notably harsh regarding Skinner`s adversity. Road arenas echo with chants of “SKIN-NER!” even when he`s playing well. Los Angeles fans even chanted “WE WANT SKINNER!” while he sat on the bench after being pulled. On a Stanley Cup contender filled with elite talent, he`s sometimes viewed as the team`s Achilles heel or, at best, “the guy whose job it is not to lose the series.”
Defector`s Ray Ratto recently published a column titled “Oh God, Stuart Skinner Controls The Oilers` Destiny,” writing that “As the Oilers` goaltender he has defined both the glories and horrors of being an Oil fan, because there is never a guarantee of what level of quality he will provide.”
As expected, Skinner`s teammates consistently defend his play when faced with such criticism. Many point out that the goaltender position attracts heightened scrutiny.
“Being a goalie in this league, being a starting goalie in Canada, it`s a pretty serious gig,” Pickard said.
“It`s the toughest position in sports, with the attention that they get. You look up and down the lineup, everyone makes mistakes. When the goalie does, then everyone pays attention,” Bowman noted.
Oilers center Adam Henrique called it “one of the most pressure-packed positions in all of sports,” adding, “Obviously, the media is a big aspect of it, too. In this market, there`s so much that goes into it. I think he does a great job of dealing with all that and adjusting and doing what he needs to do to be able to be himself.”
Beyond expressing sympathy for the challenges of his position and defending his playoff performances, Skinner`s teammates also find the fluctuations of his playoff journey inspiring.
“That`s the best thing about hockey: You could be at the top of the world one day and you can be at the bottom of the mountain the next, trying to get back to the top,” defenseman Ty Emberson said.
Emberson specifically praised Skinner`s “mental fortitude,” adding, “You get pulled from a game, not be able to win a game and then come back and be the best goalie in the world… That`s something I`ve been telling [Skinner] over the last couple of weeks: `I think you`re the best goalie in the world.`”
Adam Henrique is in his 15th NHL season. Where does Stuart Skinner rank on his “weird goalie meter”?
“I wouldn`t say that high. He`s not a super weird guy, so I would say he`d be in the middle of `crazy, wacky goalie` to `completely normal guy.` Somewhere in the middle,” Henrique mused. “I love that guy. To get to know him and see how he deals with pressure, he does a great job of the mental aspect of everything.”
It might surprise some that a goalie whose playoff runs have featured such chaotic swings is considered a calming influence among his teammates.
“It`s never too hectic with him,” Pickard said. “You`re going to play a lot of games over the course of the season. There`s going to be a lot of ups and downs, and he`s very even keel, and that`s a major attribute.”
Bowman also noted Skinner has a “good demeanor” for a goalie. “I think you have to have that ability to shrug things off, and his ability to deal with that adversity has been impressive,” the GM said.
In Game 1 against the Panthers, adversity struck when Florida took a 3-1 lead in the second period. The Panthers were intensely pushing to extend their lead, with a 30-16 shot-attempt advantage at 5-on-5 in the period. Ironically, that was when Skinner`s mind was in its most serene state.
“Honestly, it quiets everything down because you`re doing so much work. In that moment, I`m actually doing the least amount of thinking,” he explained. “Where I find I start thinking a lot is in the third period when I only get two shots and I`m kind of just waiting for it.”
When the Oilers tightened their team defense in the third period, as they have done consistently in the past two rounds, Skinner said he performs breathing exercises to elevate his heart rate and adrenaline slightly while not facing a barrage of shots.
He feels “kind of almost anxious for [the puck] to come [his] way,” and admits there are “a lot of thoughts of just like, `I really hope we score.`”
The Oilers did rally, tying the score and then scoring near the end of the first overtime to take a 1-0 series lead, as McDavid found Leon Draisaitl for the game winner, a sight Skinner has witnessed many times with the Oilers.
“I definitely do have the best seat in the house,” Skinner said after the game. “It`s a special moment. It`s excitement, it`s relief, it`s a lot of emotions coming up, a lot of pride coming up. You`re able to fight for a long, long time the whole game, and then you`re able to win.”
McDavid had commented that the Stanley Cup Final felt different this time. “It`s different in the sense that it feels less big, you know? Last year felt monumental. Very dramatic. This year feels very normal,” he said. “It`s easier to play and function when it`s just another day.”
Skinner feels the same way. “Last year, it`s your first time doing it. That can bring a lot of excitement, obviously a lot of energy,” he said. “I`m really grateful for that experience that I got last year because this year I feel the complete opposite.”
He gets better rest between games this year, which was a challenge last season due to sleep deprivation. He also said his sense of awe has lessened year over year. Skinner remembered feeling overwhelmed when the Stanley Cup was presented on the ice before the first game last year. On Wednesday, when the Cup made its appearance, Skinner said he felt completely different.
“When I saw the Cup on the ice last year, I was kind of looking at it with googly eyes,” he said. “This year, I saw it already. So now it`s time to get back to work. It felt completely different emotionally.”
Skinner said he has visualized lifting the Stanley Cup and experiencing all the joy that Game 7 denied him last season.
“I`ve done all the manifestation tricks,” he said.
He has also imagined things not going well.
“You might think I`m a little wild, but I visualize both parts. I visualize being able to win and I visualize losing again,” he said. “You got to prepare for everything. There are so many things that can kind of happen.”
Stuart Skinner should know. He has experienced nearly everything the Stanley Cup playoffs can throw at a goaltender, save for one thing: winning his final game.
