Stuart Skinner is saving his career with recent performance with Penguins

In December, the Pittsburgh Penguins and Edmonton Oilers made a blockbuster trade that saw the teams swap starting goaltenders at its foundation.

The move sent Tristan Jarry to Edmonton and Stuart Skinner to Pittsburgh, as the Oilers, frustrated by Skinner’s inconsistency, sought a more stable No. 1 option between the pipes after back-to-back losses in the Stanley Cup Final.

The early returns suggest they may have been mistaken, as Jarry has either been injured or struggling with the Oilers while Skinner is playing some of the best hockey of his career since the move.

On Monday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, host Tyler Yaremchuk and co-host and former NHL video coach Steve Peters discussed Skinner’s emergence with his new team after being on the outs in Edmonton.

Tyler Yaremchuk: Stuart Skinner, ever since he’s come over from the Edmonton Oilers, he started a little rough… But since then, absolutely dynamite for Stuart Skinner. A .906 now with the Penguins, 7 wins in 11 appearances as well. I said it at the time of the trade. Stuart Skinner himself kind of said it. He needed a fresh start. The environment here in Edmonton, it was never going to work here. They needed to split up for each other’s sake…. These numbers man, Stuart Skinner may have just saved his NHL career with his play over the last month.

Steve Peters: Go and wipe out the first three when the trade was a shock and you’re traveling, and trying to get settled. Then you have the Christmas break. Since the Christmas break, Skinner’s 7-1 with a .934 save percentage and a goals against of 1.63. Go to last night against the Vancouver Canucks, when the goalie was pulled, he comes up with two game-saving saves. I’m not saying he wasn’t good in Edmonton in stretches, but those are saves where sometimes in Edmonton, one of those might go in.

You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode here…