‘Feels like the room has lost belief that Skinner can be the solution’: Biron on Oilers’ struggles

All right, that was a rough one for the Oil. Let’s get some reaction from TSN hockey analyst Marty Biron. Marty, uh, Edmonton returns home from a long road trip. It’s an absolute disaster. They give up four goals on eight shots in the opening period. They never recover. They’re near the bottom of the league in most defensive metrics. Is it time for Stan Bowman to make a move on defense or is there any other way to fix this right now? Well, I’m going to say it’s fixable. It’s going to take a lot of work and you’re going to have to change a lot of different things. You talk about these defensive metrics, they are dead last in shots given up from the slot, in shot attempts given up from the slots, in goals from the slot, and that’s where you should always prioritize is covering the middle of the ice. But the problem with the Oilers is they’re not covering the bottom the the front of the net because they’re losing too many wall battles. Like whenever the puck’s on the wall, it’s a one-on-one battle and you think you’re going to come up with it, you’re losing it. So everybody is scattered right in the zone and while the middle of the ice is open and now sometimes you say, “Okay, I got to go help.” So it’s a one-on-one battle in the corner. You say, “I got to go help. I’m going to go, you know, help my buddy.” And then you still lose that one-on-one battle, that board battle, and the puck is behind you to somebody that’s wide open. So that is fixable. But the one thing they’re gonna have to do is be a lot stiffer, a lot stronger in their puck plays on the walls, not losing these easy one-on-one battles. And then when you’re losing the battles, like have somebody come back to the middle, protect the house, because right now you’re giving up way too much from the slot and that’s costing you way too many games. And then there’s the goalending situation. It seems like we talk about it year after year and this is just a rough night for Steuart Skinner. Gets pulled after the first period. There were some rumors out there on social media about a potential Skinner for Bennington trade and would people be interested in that? Like has it come to a point, Marty, where Bowman just has to address the goalending situation? Well, Jay, I’ve been on that, you know, kind of my soap box for the last two years. The Oilers need to change their goalending situation, but obviously they made it to back-to-back cup finals, so maybe I was the one that was a little too quick to judge. Uh but right now I actually don’t think Steuart Skinner is the problem. He’s about 33rd, 32nd in goal save above expectation. That’s over 70 goalies that have played. So he’s okay. He’s in the middle of the road. But I feel like the room has lost the belief that Seu Skinner can be the solution, right? You look at the way the Oilers have been playing in front of Seard Skinner this year, the amount of chances they’re giving up. And Steuart Skinner, some nights he’s fantastic and some nights it’s not great. And in this one against Dallas, it wasn’t great. But you look at the way that the players are, there’s a puck, a loose puck in the crease, and they’re just kind of like, uh, let’s pull it up. No, like if they were believing in their goalending and believing that they all want to be in there, they’d be hard on those pucks. They would be diving on those pucks to not let it go in. I feel like they lost the belief in in Skinner and the goalending, and that’s a problem. So yeah, I mean, if you want to make a trade, you can make a trade. There’s not a lot of trade options right now, but maybe you’re going to have to wait in the second half of the season when something opens up. Someone like uh someone you’re familiar with and Ukah Pekka Lucanin uh whose name has been out there quite a bit like is a name like that in your opinion an upgrade over what they’ve got right now? You know what? I wouldn’t be sure if it’s an upgrade because the Oilers are going to have to play better defensively to make sure that whoever they were to bring in is going to be able to excel. Look, Uko Pekco Lucan has had his moments in Buffalo where the team wasn’t playing really good defensively in front of him. So maybe he’s used to it and he’s so young that he’s got a lot of energy to give. I would also look at maybe a Philip Grubower, right? You look at how well Joy Decord is playing in Seattle and Philip Grubower, well the last few years it wasn’t that great, but this year it’s been better. So maybe he’s turned a corner and maybe So you look at the three goalie situations around the league. That maybe is where the orers can start calling right now. Wow. Well, so great that you brought up Seattle, Marty, because that is Edmonton’s next opponent. Uh it’ll be Jordan Everly, the Kraken, their old buddy on Saturday for the Oilers as they try to continue to turn the season around. This is our NHL analyst, Marty Viron.

The Oilers surrendered four goals on the first eight shots and were never able to recover in a blowout loss to the Stars. Do the Oilers need to address their defence right away? Does Edmonton need to acquire a No. 1 goaltender? Would Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen or Philipp Grubauer be major upgrades for the Oilers in net? TSN Hockey analyst Martin Biron joins SC with Jay Onrait to discuss.

23 comments

  3. defense needs to be held accountable, how the hell do they go from how they played last year to this year. oilers have shown you can get to the dance with mediocre goaltending but if you do it you need guys in front of him to not make him look as bad as he is

  4. Martys a smart cookie… yes the Oilers are losing those wall battles because their Gap Management is not tight enough which happens when your structure is not compact enough which happens when you have subpar communication and a lack of structural cohesion…. puck battle support depends on Gapping being accurate and timely so nobody can just be out there wandering around figureskating their shift away every second is accounted for in todays game with its cutting edge NewAge Systems. In addition like the Madman Dallas Eakins said 75% of the game is within 4 feet of the walls. So how do you improve Gap management to provide adequate System support in all 3 zones?…Easy you tweak the System to manage the departure and arrival times players are booking on their Playactions during their shifts to project strength in numbers in that red-zone along the wall. Problem is you need to alter your System and find able gritty guys to get this done ,its a more contact heavy style than the Oiler built their Roster to play. Full disclosure I am an NHL trained Tactical Systems Analyst…so Im not just blowing smoke.. " >)

  6. Not bailing skinner out cuz he is bad… but when you leave your goalie out to dry and are trash defensively game after game wtf do you expect your goalie to do? You can put helle in there and the oilers will still suck. It’s a bigger defensive issue than it is goaltending.

  10. Nurse and Bouchard cannot play on the same D. One of them – yes, but not both. Their play & contracts hurt the team too much. Oilers have to somehow find a way to trade one of them. Eat a portion of their contract.

    Frederic is not good enough. And Skinner serious should just go to the AHL. He’s overcommits on angles and gives up far too many juicy rebounds.

    The main problem is Oilers team D
    play. They need to address it. One of nurse or Bouchard has to go

  11. Better luck next time and Try again OILERS. Let's GO OILERS GO!💙🧡💙🧡🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🎉🎉🎉🎊🎊🎊🎊💛🧡❤️🩷💜💙🩵💚👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍

  12. Doesn't matter who's in the net, who's the GM or who's the coach when you have two superstar that don't shoot on the net and when the only player showing up is the rookie Clattenburg. Blame everyone all you want all day long won't change the facts. The team was trash and this is the result of trash play. Put Helle or Bennington or Ingram or any goalie on that night you'd get the same result. Maybe it would be 7-3, or 9-3, but you still get demolished. Clattenburg played great. Maybe it's time to shuffle the decks. Bench those who don't play, bring young players that actually want to be there and win. Once you start holding players accountable for their actions, maybe this team will be a contender. Right now. They're all playing bad and no goalie would have won that.

  13. Four GA on 8 shots in the first period. I think the defence was AWFUL; but, that said, save percentage will not qualify for the playoffs. It’s a triad: appalling senior management, poor team defence & average (at best) goalie stats.

  15. I don't pay much attention to hockey, it's too boring to watch a full game more than once a month.

    With that being said, I said the Oilers needed solid goaltending like 5 years ago.
    How do the Oilers not know this?
    Like really, how the hell have they not traded for a good goalie? I am very confused, there must be some homo erotic conspiracy.

    Hockey Homos!!!! Lol

  18. The Oilers effectively punted the season back in the summer when Bowman didn't make a trade with the Canucks to bring in Silovs as the new starting goaltender.
    What you are seeing unfold now is the end result.

  19. I don't understand Oilers fans loyalty to this goalie, he cost you back to back cups, yet nobody seems to get it… Is it because he's an Alberta boy or just his sexy moustache ? ….iam not even really an Oilers fan myself, I just lived in the city for 10 years during their darkest ages, and it pisses me off because i was rooting for them to win…
    You could recreate the Top 10 bloopers of all time with him alone.

  21. I'm just stupefied that announcers/commentators won't call out Bouchard et al for their lack of effort on defense. I think Bouchard was on the ice for all of the Stars first 4 goals…?! Say his name!!!

  23. The hallmark, of a good,goaltender is consistency!Skinner is hot, then cold, he played the panthers tough, now this, you can not win a Stanley cup, playing one game great, the next game sour grapes!Most NHL, teams won’t tolerate that!In any job,that’s the facts!

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