Oilers’ Top 5 Goalies of the Connor McDavid Era – The Hockey Writers – Edmonton Oilers

The Edmonton Oilers appear to be headed into the 2026-27 NHL season with a trio of goaltenders, Frederik Andersen, Tristan Jarry, and Devon Levi, none of whom were with the team at the start of 2025-26.

This is just the latest of many attempts during the Connor McDavid Era to find the goalie––or combination of goalies––that can help bring a Stanley Cup to Edmonton. Over McDavid’s 11 seasons with the Oilers, the team has had 15 different netminders appear in a game, seven of whom started 30 or more games in at least one season.

While they’ve been in contention the last several years, McDavid and co. are yet to win the franchise’s elusive sixth championship. After reaching the Stanley Cup Final in both 2024 and 2025, Edmonton bowed out in the first round of the 2026 NHL Playoffs.

There is much to attribute the Oilers’ shortcomings to, but fingers always seem to be pointed at the masked men in the crease. Fair or not, Edmonton’s goaltenders have borne the brunt of the blame.

But a number of these individuals also deserve some credit for helping the Oilers find levels of success despite dealing with constant upheaval and playing behind suspect defence. With that in mind, we present Edmonton’s top five goalies of the McDavid Era:

5) Mike Smith

When he signed with the Oilers on July 1, 2019, Mike Smith was a 37-year-old veteran of 13 NHL seasons with more than 500 career starts under his belt. The hope was that the two-time All-Star’s experience would elevate Edmonton’s play between the pipes.

Injuries limited Smith’s availability during his time in Edmonton. Over three seasons, 2019-20 to 2021-22, he appeared in a total of 99 games, but boasted pretty decent stats, going 56-27-10 with a 2.70 goals-against average (GAA) and a .913 save percentage (SV%).

Smith started all 16 games for the Oilers during the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs, backstopping Edmonton to its first appearance in the conference final since 2006.

Prior to the 2022-23 season, Smith failed his physical and was placed on long-term injured reserve (LTIR), effectively spelling the end of his career. He never played again.

4) Mikko Koskinen

Among all Oilers goalies during the McDavid Era, Mikko Koskinen ranks third for games played (164), games started (153), and wins (83).

Koskinen signed with the Oilers on July 1, 2018, after having spent the previous several years playing in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) in Russia. The Finnish goaltender began 2018-19 as backup to Cam Talbot, but got more and more starts as the season wore on, and wound up playing 25 of Edmonton’s final 27 games after Talbot was dealt to the Philadelphia Flyers on Feb. 15, 2019.

From 2019-20 to 2021-22, Koskinen and Smith tag-teamed between the pipes. At no point during his Oilers tenure was Koskinen meant to be their long-term starter. But whenever Edmonton’s de facto No. 1 goalie, whether Talbot or Smith, hit a rough patch, Koskinen was there to bail the Oilers out. He was a big part of Edmonton reaching the postseason in 2020, 2021, and 2022. When his contract expired at the end of 2021-22, Koskinen returned to Europe.

3) Calvin Pickard

About a month into the 2023-24 season, with Edmonton sitting at the bottom of the standings and desperate for a spark, the Oilers assigned struggling veteran netminder Jack Campbell to the Bakersfield Condors of the American Hockey League (AHL). In Campbell’s place, they recalled netminder Calvin Pickard, a 31-year-old with fewer than 100 career NHL starts.

No one could have predicted it at the time, but Pickard and Stuart Skinner formed a goaltending tandem that helped the Oilers reach the Stanley Cup Final in consecutive years, 2024 and 2025.

As backup to the sometimes-shaky Skinner, Pickard was a constant source of stability. He was particularly heroic during the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs, stepping in to win six straight starts after the Oilers had fallen behind 2-0 in Round 1 against the Los Angeles Kings.

After an unceremonious reassignment to Bakersfield during the 2025-26 season, Pickard signed as a free agent with the Minnesota Wild on July 1. He has the highest playoff winning percentage of all goalies in Oilers history, with a record of 8-2.

2) Cam Talbot

On June 27, 2015, one day after they drafted McDavid first overall, the Oilers traded a package of picks to the New York Rangers in exchange for Talbot, then 28, with just 57 games of NHL experience, giving Edmonton a promising goalie to go along with their future superstar centre.

While the Oilers struggled in 2015-16, Talbot established himself as a bona fide No. 1 netminder, posting a 2.55 GAA and .917 SV% over 56 games.

In 2016-17, Talbot had one of the greatest seasons by an Oilers goaltender, setting the franchise record with 42 wins, while registering a 2.39 GAA and .919 SV% over 73 appearances, all starts. He then backstopped Edmonton to its first playoff series win in 11 years, as the Oilers beat the San Jose Sharks in Round 1, before pushing the Anaheim Ducks to seven games in the second round.

Among all Edmonton netminders during the McDavid Era, Talbot ranks first in games played (227), first in starts (222), and second in wins (104).

1) Stuart Skinner

Drafted 78^th overall by his hometown team in 2017, Skinner was never really tabbed as Edmonton’s goaltender of the future. But every time he got an opportunity, he impressed. While other goalies came and went, unable to lock down the starting job, Skinner eventually proved undeniable.

After playing one game with the Oilers in 2020-21 and 13 for them in 2021-22, Skinner broke through in 2022-23, appearing in 50 games while being named a Calder Trophy finalist and voted to the All-Star Game. In 2023-24, Skinner posted a stellar 36-16-5 record, tying for the third-most wins in a season in franchise history.

Ultimately, Skinner was just not viewed as being good enough by the Oilers, and last December, he was dealt to the Pittsburgh Penguins as part of a trade that brought Jarry to Edmonton.

With 109 regular-season victories, he ranks first among all Oilers goaltenders in the McDavid Era. Even more impressively, he has the second-most playoff wins (26) in franchise history, behind only Hall-of-Famer Grant Fuhr.

Considering Skinner backstopped Edmonton to two Stanley Cup Final appearances, the only way anyone will be supplanting him at the top of this list is by backstopping the Oilers to a championship triumph. Edmonton fans hope that a goalie exists among the trio of Andersen, Jarry, and Levi.