Oilers Trade for Tristan Jarry Reeks of Desperation

Edmonton, for those who've not been, is lovely this time of year.

The days are clear and crisp. The nights are downright cold. And the snow-filled landscape is ideal if you're adept on skis and skates or simply looking for a traditional holiday backdrop.

But if you're a hockey executive employed by the Oilers, it's not always a wonderland.

Particularly if the team is off to one of its signature uneven starts.

That's the case these days for the two-time defending Western champs, whose path to another Stanley Cup Final seems barely navigable after the first two months of 2025-26 ended with them tied for eighth in the conference—and far closer to its basement than its penthouse.

And it wasn't difficult to suggest a primary culprit.

The team's collective 3.58 goals-against average stood 30th in a 32-team league—ahead of only Nashville and Vancouver—even with a shots-against average (26.6) that was in its upper third.   

Not surprisingly, the numbers cranked volume on calls for GM Stan Bowman to execute a paradigm-shifting roster move with hands bound tightly by the salary cap, and jettison scapegoat Stuart Skinner for the type of backstop who wouldn't force held breath with every opposition zone entry.

He pulled the trigger on Friday.

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Skinner was sent to Pittsburgh along with defenseman Brett Kulak and a 2029 draft pick for Penguins veteran Tristan Jarry, who played junior hockey in Edmonton before becoming a second-round pick in 2013 and reaching Pittsburgh's top five in wins, save percentage and shutouts.

But to assume Bowman's troubles are over seems a stretch.

It doesn't help that Jarry allowed four goals on 29 shots in a Thursday loss to Montreal (while Skinner was making 27 saves to beat Detroit) and it doesn't require much strain to recall he cleared waivers and spent time in the AHL just last January—after starting the 2024-25 season 8-8-4 with an ugly 3.31 goals-against average and .886 save percentage in 22 games.

Skinner, incidentally, is 11-8-4 through 23 games this season with a 2.83 and an .891.

In fact, though Jarry was a participant in the 2020 and 2022 All-Star games, both his goals-against average (2.93) and save percentage (.903) across the subsequent three-plus seasons are slightly worse than Skinner's 2.74 and .904 totals.

Not to mention he's made 35 fewer starts in that same time frame, at least partially due to three stints on injured reserve, and has exactly two career playoff wins to Skinner's 26.

So, while there's no question the Oilers needed an upgrade and fair to suggest Skinner was not a dependable No. 1 on a Cup-worthy team, it's no less fair to say the deal with Pittsburgh—for an oft-injured goalie whose numbers are comparable at best and inferior at worst—was struck less out of confidence in the return and more out of desperation to get something, anything, done.

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"It's not so much a comment on Stuart Skinner," Bowman said, "it's just really maybe time for something different here."

Not exactly an inspiring rationale.

And if you think the angst is going away soon, forget it.

The transaction only resets the clock on Bowman's relationship with Connor McDavid, who signed a low-budget two-year extension in October to free-up cash and allow the GM to retool on the fly.

Now the only goalie tied to the roster beyond this season, Jarry is locked in with an annual $5.375 million price tag through the same 2027-28 deadline as McDavid.

If he steadies the crease and enables Bowman to tinker in other areas, they'll all live happily ever after in Edmonton. But if his numbers don't enable a quick spike back toward the Western elite, the parade that No. 97 so intensely desires will have to be prepped for elsewhere.

In other words, his performance will either enhance his new boss's fate, or seal it.

"We have our goalie for the next three playoff runs," Bowman said, "which I think is important."

Yeah, Stan. Pretty much.