Oilers frustrated with lack of defensive execution as they prepare for Kraken

Edmonton Oilers goaltender Stuart Skinner (74) skates back to the net following a time out against the Carolina Hurricanes during the third period of an NHL hockey game in Raleigh, N.C., Saturday, Nov. 15, 2025. (Karl B DeBlaker/AP)

Dare we now invoke the name Devan Dubnyk?

Stuart Skinner remembers being a teenager growing up in Edmonton a dozen years ago when the onetime Oilers goalie was the focus of fan discontent.

“I was there for that,” the starting goalie told reporters on Thursday following team practice at Edmonton’s Rogers Place. “I felt bad for him. That’s happened a few times here. I think it happens anywhere around the league.”

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Skinner, 27, has come under criticism this season for less-than-stellar personal statistics thus far in the 2025-26 National Hockey League campaign as the Oilers, who have a .500 record through 25 games heading into Saturday’s game in Seattle, struggle to return to a form that saw them make the Stanley Cup final the last two seasons.

Dubnyk, then 27 and in his second full season as the Oilers’ No. 1 goalie, struggled for the Dallas Eakins-coached team at the beginning of the 2013-14 season and was traded that January to the Nashville Predators. They soon flipped the Regina native to the Montreal Canadiens, who sent him to the minors for the rest of the campaign.

Dubnyk, who had spent nine years in the Oilers’ fold after being drafted 14th overall in 2004, resurfaced with the Arizona Coyotes the next season and was traded to the Minnesota Wild, for whom the six-foot-six, 224-lb., netminder served as the starter for six seasons.

But although the pressure of being an NHL goalie can be palpable – “You can definitely feel it,” Skinner said. “You can feel the energy in the building. You can certainly hear the boos” – the 2017 third-round pick by Edmonton, while admitting he won’t recommend to his children that they should follow in his foot (skate?) steps and don a mask and pads, says he’s happy he chose to play the position.

“Sometimes, when it gets really bad, you wish you made a different choice, but honestly, I love it, man,” the six-foot-four, 229-pounder said. “It’s the best thing in the world being able to be a goalie. I’ve learned so much in so many different ways, not just on ice, but just character, being able to pull yourself out of some really tough spots, being a good teammate even when you feel like the world’s crashing down on you. It’s easy to be selfish, and you learn a lot about not being selfish in this position.

“It’s not about just one guy, it’s about everybody.”

And it’s that team philosophy that acquits Skinner and his Oilers crease partner, Calvin Pickard, to an extent. For much of the season, and particularly following tough losses including Tuesday’s 8-3 home-ice shellacking of the Oilers by the Dallas Stars, the team’s skaters and its head coach have said everyone is to blame for defensive breakdowns this season.

“It’s the full team, and especially us as defencemen, it’s our job to help him out, to clear the net front, to make sure he sees the points,” Oilers blueliner Mattias Ekholm said after practice. “We take a lot of pride in that, and we know we haven’t been to our standard. We have to be a lot better when it comes to defending.

“I think we’ve just got to get more consistent with not giving up on anything, like not giving up those grade ‘A’ (scoring chances.) We have to try to limit that. That’s just the bottom line. It’s been way too many breakaways. It’s been way too many uncontested, unblocked shots, so to speak, from the middle region of the net.”

Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch said he and his staff will make some minor adjustments structurally for Saturday’s game against the Kraken, which will see the return of forwards Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Curtis Lazar to the Edmonton lineup, with the statuses of Jack Roslovic, Kasperi Kapanen and defenceman Jake Wallman unknown at this point.

He said he said the players feel “frustration” at not executing at this level.

“Guys care. They want to win,” Knoblauch said Thursday. “It’s not that they’ve quit and turn the page on what’s happening. They want to get better and push themselves to turn the season around.

“We need to get a lot more out of everybody, everyone stepping up just a little bit, not just a burden on one or two guys to turn this season around.”