SUNRISE, Fla. — As the youngest of nine siblings, Stuart Skinner had little choice but to be born competitive.
Growing up, the Edmonton Oilers goalie had to battle for everything in his own household, including getting to play in net, so it’s little wonder he’s been successful early in his NHL career, getting to the Stanley Cup Final in his second full season.
“Growing up, my parents did not want me to play goalie and it took a lot of convincing,” Skinner said Friday. “I asked them a whole bunch and I just did it. When the opportunity came when our team needed a goalie, I volunteered to be the goalie. I’m sure they were a little upset, but we’re all happy about it now.”
Skinner has come a long way since his minor hockey days and will get the start for Edmonton against the Florida Panthers in Game 1 of the best-of-7 Final here at Amerant Bank Arena on Saturday (8 p.m. ET; ABC, ESPN+, SN, TVAS, CBC).
Skinner has battled the odds and proven the critics wrong with his play to this point in the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs, and even his opponent at the other end of the ice, Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky, is admiring what the 25-year-old has done.
“It’s definitely a great achievement for him. I wasn’t even close to that in my second year. I was a backup goalie at that point, and I think it’s great for him,” Bobrovsky said Friday. “He’s a good goalie. You’re not going to make the Final if you’re a bad goalie. He’s a good positional goalie, and I think he’s very composed and he has a good mind.”
Throughout his career, Skinner has been commended for his mental makeup. The Edmonton native rarely seems upset and has an ability to overcome adversity in situations where others may be overwhelmed.
Skinner did hit a speed bump in the Western Conference Second Round against the Vancouver Canucks, getting pulled in Game 3 and sitting out the next two games of the best-of-7 series. However, he made a triumphant return in Game 6 with the Oilers facing elimination and has been outstanding since.
“He’s laid back and relaxed, but he’s very tuned in with the competitive side to be successful,” said Dave Rathjen, Skinner’s goalie coach in junior with the Swift Current Broncos of the Western Hockey League. “There’s a neat balance there; he wants to get to the bottom of things and then he wants to improve from that. Whether it’s a goal against, or a question or a grey area, he works hard to figure out and solve that issue and move on and get ready for the next game, which is very important for a goalie.”
