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Sunday Scramble: Goaltending relief, Kulak’s departure bigger than believed, Hughes trade sends shockwaves

4 16
16.12.2025
The first feeling I had when I heard Stuart Skinner was traded? Relief. I’ve said this before, but part of the reason I wanted a new Oilers starting goaltender (beyond his play) is that I was sick of talking about him and sick of the discussion surrounding him. The Skinner topic became exhausting. Every game became a fiery debate on Skinner, the goaltender. This flaw, this save, back and forth. If the Oilers lost, the anti-Skinner screamed his name in infamy. If the Oilers won, the pro-Skinner crowd would go, see!Because that’s who Skinner was, sometimes good, a lot of times shaky.It was clear – it was time. Far too many times, a bad goal against deflated the team. This move was about restoring confidence to the skaters, not resumes or statistics, although Tristan Jarry’s are consistently better than Skinner’s. I was skeptical a goalie swap would happen during the season, but GM Stan Bowman pulled the trigger, and now the team can turn the page.Did you find yourself a bit more at ease watching the opposition fire pucks towards the Oilers’ goal on Saturday night? I did. The lack of theatrics required to make a save was refreshing.I do wish Skinner well. He’s a good guy and easy to root for, as did many thousands in Oilersnation. But one has to think a trade is in his best interest, too.So long, Stu.

Bowman’s wager

With that said, the Oilers lose the trade in terms of today’s value for players.Now let me be clear: just because the Oilers overpaid doesn’t mean the trade won’t work out for Edmonton. But as we stand today, the volume of what they gave in the trade is uncomfortable, due to Tristan Jarry’s term and no money retained from Pittsburgh, plus the loss of Brett Kulak, not to mention a draft choice. You don’t get good players for free, though (unless it’s Vasily Podkolzin from Vancouver), and the wager by Bowman that Jarry playing in front of this Oilers group will see his play improve, already above his current numbers, is not a terrible one.The Jarry element of the trade isn’t the sticking point for me.

Kulak hard to replace

Losing a defenceman like Brett Kulak on the surface shouldn’t be so concerning, but through his tenure, Kulak has been an enormously valuable piece.He never missed a game, playing 370 regular season and playoffs. He was often the lynchpin of a pair, saddled with a rookie or young defender learning their way. But most importantly, he was a failsafe if someone in the top-4 was struggling defensively.Namely, Darnell Nurse and Jake Walman.There’s been the suggestion that you can just “find” a “bottom pair” defenceman easily. Sure, you can. However, Kulak in the most pivotal games, wasn’t used like a bottom-pair defenceman.You can make the case that outside of Evan Bouchard, Brett Kulak was the most important Oilers defenceman in last year’s final, with the inconsistent play of Nurse and Walman, and........

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