The Ottawa Senators are heading into the offseason with a pretty significant hole to fill behind Linus Ullmark, and it sounds like Steve Staios could be looking toward a relatively big name to help solve it. According to Bruce Garrioch, the Senators have identified pending unrestricted free agent Stuart Skinner as one of their primary targets this summer.
Skinner was a starter in Pittsburgh and Edmonton
The interest in Skinner doesn’t really come as a surprise. Staios has a long history with him dating back to their time together in the Edmonton Oilers organization. He saw Skinner’s development firsthand, and those kinds of relationships usually matter when Staios starts looking at potential additions. He tends to value familiarity and players he already understands beyond just the numbers.
Skinner spent last season splitting time between Edmonton and Pittsburgh. After being traded to the Penguins in December, he helped stabilize things enough for them to push into the playoffs, though the postseason itself obviously didn’t go very smoothly.
He finished with a 12-9-5 record and an .885 save percentage in Pittsburgh, but after dropping three straight games to the Philadelphia Flyers and eventually losing starts to Arturs Silovs, it does feel like there’s a good chance he reaches the open market this summer.
The fit makes sense in Ottawa
On paper, Skinner honestly makes a lot of sense for Ottawa. For years now, the Senators have struggled to find stability behind their starter. It’s felt like constant backup roulette at times, and Skinner at least gives them someone with real NHL experience who could handle a sizeable workload if needed.
At 6-foot-4, he has the size teams still heavily value in modern goaltending, and technically, there’s a lot to work with there. The bigger issue throughout his career has usually been consistency and handling the pressure that comes with being a full-time starter in markets like Edmonton.
Ottawa could be a very different situation for him. Instead of carrying the entire crease, he’d likely come in as part of a legitimate tandem alongside Ullmark, and maybe that ends up being the environment where his game settles back in a bit. The Senators wouldn’t need him to steal games every night either. They just need stability in the backup goalie role.
And honestly, there have been stretches where Skinner has looked really solid statistically. His mid-range save numbers over the last few seasons have been fairly strong, even if his high-danger numbers dipped a bit this past year.
Skinner could be a buy-low, high-reward signing
Financially, the fit makes sense too. With the salary cap projected to rise to $104 million, Ottawa should have enough flexibility to make a move like this work without creating other problems across the roster. Most projections seem to have Skinner landing somewhere in the $3.2 million to $3.8 million range on a shorter-term contract.
Even at the higher end of that range, the Senators would still be spending a fairly reasonable percentage of their cap on their goaltending tandem. After years of cycling through waiver claims, unproven options, and emergency depth starts, adding someone with over 130 NHL games and legitimate playoff experience would still represent a pretty sizeable upgrade for this team.
Add us as a preferred source on Google