FEATURE: Skinner staying stoic in pursuit of improvement

EDMONTON, AB - There were a lot of important lessons learned for rookie netminder Stuart Skinner over his first full NHL season with the Edmonton Oilers.

The biggest one will hang on the wall in his family's basement for years to come.

The 24-year-old couldn't imagine his goalie stick breaking at a worse time than it did during Game 6 of the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs when trying to make a quick pass to Evan Bouchard from his own crease with Los Angeles Kings centre Phillip Danault barreling toward him on a hard forecheck.

The shaft had already been cracked before his attempted pass earlier in the period from a slash by Adrian Kempe, leading to the puck fanning off his blade on his attempted pass and into the path of Danault to bury the easy open-net goal to tie the elimination contest at 4-4 with over 12 minutes remaining.

But the will of the netminder, and his teammates, didn't waver.

Skinner and the Oilers would recover from the forceful judgment shown by the hockey gods after he made the remaining seven saves before Kailer Yamamoto scored the series-clinching goal with 3:03 left in regulation to send Edmonton to the second round.

Now, that shattered stick will reside in Skinner's possession on the basement wall of his young family's home to serve as a reminder to continue going in the face of resounding adversity; that when you fall, your teammates can help pick you back up.

"I'm going to find a spot on the wall to hang it up," Skinner said. "I think it's important for me because it's a reminder. It's a reminder that it's life. All of us in this room have experienced it. Things don't go well all the time. You're going to get knocked down.

"When I look at that stick, it shows me perseverance. It shows me that things aren't going to go well, and that's okay. You're going to battle back from that. You're going to work back from that. You're going to get back up and keep fighting, and that's what this team does. It's a reminder of my teammates and how they persevere, and also about how I battle back as well."

Despite the Oilers falling short of their ultimate goal, it's been a sensational rookie campaign for Skinner. The netminder went from being slated as the Oilers backup to begin the season behind Jack Campbell to Edmonton's full-fledged starter in the Stanley Cup Playoffs after making 49 starts in the regular season.

Along the way, Skinner surpassed Grant Fuhr's franchise rookie record for wins in a single season with 29 victories, became an NHL All-Star for the first time and even became a first-time father with his wife Chloe after the birth of his son Beau in the middle of January.

"I thought it was a good year," he said. "Obviously, you come in as a certified backup for the first little bit, and my goal was just to compete with Soup and work my bag off every day to get better. I got a couple of opportunities and tried to grab that, and I had the opportunity to play and try to win some more games."

In the postseason is where Skinner's excitement peaked after he was given the opportunity to backstop Edmonton's latest run through the playoffs that ended in a six-game defeat to the Vegas Golden Knights.

After cheering on his hometown team all his life as a fan, getting the chance to stop the pucks for the Oilers at the most important time of their season was an honour that he doesn't take lightly, which is only fitting for a young professional goaltender who reflects on every moment and remains stoic in his approach toward his craft.

"Best time of my life. It was so much fun. The fans were incredible," Skinner said of experiencing post-season hockey from the Oilers crease inside Rogers Place. "How the team played was impressive. It's pretty cool. I watched the Oilers growing up and I've been able to watch them in playoff series.

"It's kind of crazy that I'm the guy in the net doing that now, so I'm very fortunate and very grateful."

That same mental fortitude is keeping Skinner's focus on improving in his second full season with the Oilers and becoming the netminder the Blue & Orange need to compete for and win a Stanley Cup next season. That job starts, he said, with improving his skating ability and his quickness so he can manage more of the net-front battle he was exposed to throughout the playoffs against Los Angeles and Vegas more efficiently.

"I have a lot of work to do to win a cup next year to help my team win a cup next year," he said. "We know where we're at, we know what to do, and this offseason is obviously critical."

Despite all those personal and professional highlights, the rest and relaxation side of the offseason is a bitter-sweet reality for the former South Side Athletic Club U16 AAA Lions netminder, who like all of his fellow Oilers teammates, coaches and staff members would've hoped to be competing in the Western Conference Final.

"I think taking it as fuel," he said. "I wanted to skate today. I don't want to have any time off right now. I want to get back to work right away, but the body does need the rest and the recovery.

"I'm going to keep this one locked up in my heart and in my mind for the whole summer, and I'm going to use it as fuel to do that extra rep on the bike."

With his chance to win the Calder Trophy later this June in Nashville as the League's top rookie, Skinner considers himself a product of the people around him who helped get him to this point.

"I'm very grateful for the opportunities that I got," he said. "At the same time, everything that you said, the Calder and all the wins and all that stuff, that has everything to do with the guys that played in front of me. That has everything to do with the guys that battle for me every single night.

"I have a huge thank for the players in front of me for helping me have the season that I had."