The Hockey Show: The Oilers Make The Move

Welcome in. We’ve got breaking news: Edmonton swung big, sending Stuart Skinner, Brett Kulak, and a future second to Pittsburgh for Tristan Jarry and Samuel Poulin, and also grabbed Spencer Stastney from Nashville for a 2027 third. Did the Oilers actually upgrade in net, or did they just shuffle pieces?

Edmonton clearly thinks Jarry is the guy; his underlying numbers this season beat Skinner’s, but the price was heavy and the fit depends on how he looks behind the Oilers’ structure. Pittsburgh may not be done either, so Skinner could be a bridge or a flip.

I expected they’d keep Skinner as a 1B and add a true number one; instead they landed on Jarry with Pickard, which feels like a lateral move, especially given Jarry’s comfy context behind a better Penguins blue line.

About that Stastney deal—does he replace Kulak?

It’s plausible. The tracking data hints at more upside than what Kulak’s provided, so as a long-term depth play it makes sense.

On the cards, Stastney grades out as sturdier defensively than Kulak, which supports the swap.

Carter Hart returned to Philadelphia with Vegas and they hid him—no start, no media time.

They even added extra security by the bench because of the reception, which is a weak way to handle it.

It’s a pattern with the Golden Knights—statements, credential dust-ups, and ducking questions—prioritizing wins over accountability.

Punishment time: we owed a forfeit, so we all dunked our hands in ice water. Chaos, shrieks, the whole thing.

I can’t feel my hands. Let’s bet anyway.

Puck Luck: Tyler Bertuzzi over one and a half shots, Chicago to win in St. Louis on tired legs, and Brandon Montour over two and a half shots. The parlay pays about five to one.

Stat of the week: Nathan MacKinnon’s even-strength contributions outpace Seattle’s entire team total. He and Cale Makar are running the Hart race.

Toronto’s week was loud as usual: a shootout loss to Montreal, Hildeby’s first NHL shutout over Tampa, then a blown two-goal lead and an overtime loss to San Jose. Auston Matthews is closing fast on the franchise scoring record.

Win of the week: color versus color sweaters. It looks fantastic, and the league wants more of it.

Stadium Series is leaning that way too, which rules.

Another win, at least for pettiness: the player survey on most punchable faces was loaded with Panthers past and present. It tracks, and they win a lot.

Fails: two endgame disasters—one own-goal swatted in at the buzzer and a last-second McDavid equalizer—cost teams precious points.

Skate-blade chaos is everywhere; when a blade pops, guys end up crawling to the bench. Teams should be drilling how to exit fast when that happens.

And Edmonton’s Evan Bouchard gift-wrapped one, which is the kind of defending Jarry’s walking into. Good luck, Oilers.

Jordan McPherson is here with some debate fuel.

First up: posts shouldn’t be treated like whiffs. At minimum, track shots off iron separately instead of lumping them as misses.

On embellishment, I’ve long hated matching a dive with a real infraction, but I’ve seen a legit hook plus a big sell job—there are rare cases where both can be right.

Two tweaks I love: make the offending unit take the first PK shift like icing, and bring in jailbreak so a shorthanded goal ends the kill and frees a man, even during four-on-four.

Also, warmups are stale—let players tailor them beyond cookie-cutter line rushes—and I’d add mirrors in the visiting penalty box so fans and the player see each other. Little home-ice mind games.

Panthers check-in.

They snapped a home slide with three straight, then ran into a Denver buzzsaw on a back-to-back at altitude that turned into a shot-volume avalanche.

Dallas and then Tampa are up; grabbing two or three points from those would be big considering how relentless those teams are.

Split the trip, then cash in on a home-heavy stretch with number nineteen trending toward a return, and they’re set up fine.

They’ve got to bank points before a road-heavy back half and the Olympic break. The wild card lane looks most realistic.

And please fix the playoff format; Dallas and Colorado shouldn’t collide before the conference final. Bring back one through eight.

Shout-outs to the crew in the booth. Next week Brad Williams brings an Anaheim Ducks update, and we’ll roll into the Winter Classic. I’m Roy Bellamy—this was The Hockey Show. See you.