The Edmonton Oilers' long nightmare is over after finally acquiring a goaltender to replace Stuart Skinner. Or, is it? The goaltender they decided on was Tristan Jarry, with the Pittsburgh Penguins acquiring Skinner, Brett Kulak, and a 2029 second-round pick in return. Sam Poulin was also part of the return for the Oilers.
Jarry is an interesting goaltender for the Oilers to hitch their wagon to for the upcoming playoff race. He had fallen out of favor with the Penguins last season, even spending some time regaining his confidence in the AHL. The 2025-26 season had been a bounce-back for the netminder, but there has to be some worry that he'll eventually fall back into his form from last season.
Form isn't where the worry stops. Jarry also has a history of injuries, suggesting he can be unreliable at times. For the Oilers, unreliability isn't what they wanted when trying to replace Skinner, who has been terrible at times in his Oilers tenure, but also helped lead Edmonton to two consecutive Stanley Cup Finals.
Jarry's postseason numbers have also been ugly for the Penguins. He owns a career 3.00 goals-against average and a .891 save percentage. There were times when people argued about whether he was the goaltender the Penguins should be forcing Sidney Crosby to chase Stanley Cups with, and now the Oilers are bringing him in to do the same thing with Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl.
One positive for the Oilers is that Jarry's last good postseason performance was in the 2013-14 season, when he led the Edmonton Oil Kings to a WHL and Memorial Cup championship. Can he turn back the clock in the City of Champions and get the Oilers over the hump?
Tristan Jarry has been better than Stuart Skinner this season
When looking at the 2025-26 season in a vacuum, Jarry is an improvement over Skinner. Skinner has a 2.83 goals-against average and a .891 save percentage this season, while Jarry currently owns a 2.66 goals-against average and a .906 save percentage.
An interesting wrinkle is that Skinner has been stellar over his past five appearances, allowing just eight goals and recording a .937 save percentage. The lasting memory of Skinner in an Oilers uniform will be his teammates congratulating him on a 27-save performance in a 4-1 win over the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday night.
Jarry also played on Thursday night, allowing four goals on 29 shots in a 4-2 loss to the Montreal Canadiens. It was Jarry's second consecutive loss, and the Penguins will now turn to a tandem of Skinner and Arturs Silovs to try to lead the team back to the playoffs.
It'll be intriguing to see if Skinner can turn back the clock to his 2022-23 season, before the pressure cooker turned up to maximum heat in Edmonton. He owned a 29-14-5 record that season, with a .914 save percentage and a 2.75 goals-against average. It was his subsequent playoff struggles that spring that began to turn public opinion against him.
If Skinner can regain that form, this trade will be a massive win for the Penguins. Not only do they make a somewhat lateral goaltending move, but they also get a second-round pick for the future and a defenseman in Kulak, who has been part of some deep playoff runs.
Final Penguins-Oilers trade grades
Pittsburgh Penguins grade: B
Edmonton Oilers grade: D
The move is still a risk for the Penguins, considering Silovs could hit a wall at some point, and there is no guarantee that Skinner will be better away from Edmonton. The eventual Penguins grade for this trade could come from how well Jarry performs in Edmonton.
Stan Bowman said he didn't want to make a lateral move when attempting to upgrade his goaltending situation. Bowman then went out and made one of the most lateral moves you can make, and overpaid doing it. With the slim chance that Jarry might go on a lightning-in-a-bottle run when he returns to his old junior home, we'll stay away from a fail grade. However, we'll revisit it in April if Jarry's playoff statistics remain abysmal.
The big question is what McDavid must be thinking about now after signing his recent two-year extension. Jarry also has two years left on his deal after this season, setting him up to be the captain's starting goaltender for the rest of his Oilers tenure. If the Tristan Jarry experience goes south, Bowman might've just made the deal that pushes their generational center out of Edmonton. It could also be the move that makes Bowman's tenure as general manager quicker than expected.
