The Edmonton Oilers will be without starter Mike Smith for a little while, as he deals with a lower-body injury. Smith has been moved to injured reserve, while Stuart Skinner has been recalled to take his place on the active roster.
Smith, 39, was removed from Tuesday’s game partway through the second period after allowing four goals on 15 shots and replaced by Mikko Koskinen, who backstopped the Oilers to a comeback victory. It will likely be Koskinen that gets the lion’s share of the work with Smith out, but Skinner is a more than capable backup at this point who showed in the preseason that he actually may be ready to take the next step. The 22-year-old netminder posted a .914 save percentage for the Bakersfield Condors last season and has picked up right where he left off, stopping 53 of 56 shots against in his first two minor league appearances this year.
Still, this is exactly the kind of thing that many Oilers fans worried about when the team decided to bring back Smith. The veteran netminder signed a new two-year contract that carries a $2.2MM cap hit, but now already finds himself on the shelf nursing an injury. With Koskinen’s extremely inconsistent past, the Oilers could be in trouble if Smith has an injury-riddled campaign and can’t carry the load.
He’ll have to miss a minimum of seven days now, meaning it’ll be Koskinen and Skinner splitting the upcoming back to back in Arizona and Vegas. Luckily enough, the Oilers only play once between this Friday and next Saturday, meaning Smith may not end up missing many scheduled starts. That is assuming of course that he returns rather quickly, something that is not a guarantee at this point.
Oilers really made a poor choice/bet with this old goat, if he is out any length of time. Let’s go Brandon!
@urban schocker – It’s not like they didn’t try to improve between the pipes during the off-season, they just didn’t have the desire to overpay for the few good netminders available. The other teams had more to offer for those guys, so EDM was left on the outside, looking in. Their hands are still tied when it comes to being able to compete for a top goalie.
I’m glad Edmonton didn’t splash a long term expensive contract on a goalie.
Goalies are inconsistent for the most part and so anything long term is dangerous. Smith at 2 years was a “bonus” for doing so well the previous season in my opinion.
If I were thinking strategy, Holland might be waiting for later in the season when a team might want to shed a goalie. Dallas has one or so to spare. Then he can possibly bring in someone before the playoffs.
Good news is goalies don’t need chemistry with their linemates ;)
Obviously Skinner seems like a scary situation, but at some point prospects need to get some NHL experience.
@KAR 120C – “Good news is goalies don’t need chemistry with their linemates ;)” – It looks like the second part didn’t make it through the interweb mine field —
“-Signed, Ron Hextall” :)
Settle down.
The story makes it sound like Oilers fans were worried about Smith getting injured. He got stepped on by a player. Could have happened to anyone.
We were worried his age would catch up with him. So far he has been fine.
I won’t mind seeing how Skinner does. If he proves capable, it will be a big bonus for next year.
I’ve heard he’s a fitness beast. 39 years old as a goalie (who is in shape) is not the same as a skater. This is an injury that any goalie could get…doesn’t mean because he is 39 he got it.
Settle down is right. Oil fans should be happy they didn’t spend money and term on Grubs or Mrazek