In my latest post for Oilersnation, I looked into Stuart Skinner’s workload so far this season, and how his proportion of the team’s total ice time compares with other goaltenders.
The concern with Skinner is that while he’s been very good for the Oilers, his workload remains one of the highest in the league. He’s played 1,847 minutes in total this season, which is the seventh-highest in the league. With Jack Campbell in the AHL and Calvin Pickard only getting a handful of starts, Skinner has now played 72.7 percent of the Oilers’ total ice time this season, which is the fourth-highest proportion in the league. He’s only behind Alexandar Georgiev (79.9 percent in Colorado), Connor Hellebuyck (74.5 percent in Winnipeg) and Sergei Bobrovsky (72.9 percent in Florida).
The concern for the Oilers is that with one of the hardest travel schedules, the overall grind of the regular season and the lack of options in net, there’s a very real possibility that Skinner won’t be as rested and fresh as some of the others when the playoffs start. With 40 games left in their schedule, the Oilers really need someone to play at least half of them, so that Skinner finishes the season with about 52 games. This would still be higher than last year’s league average number of games for a starting goalie (47), but would at least be lower than the 61-game pace he’s currently on.
Sunil Agnihotri/Oilersnation
Full article is at Oilersnation.
Data: Natural Stat Trick
The SuperFan 
It has already come out through the training staff that they are using Stu more, now that he is hot red and the playing schedule allows it. They already have a plan in place for the second part of the season which includes more back-to-back games. By then they may have an experienced (backup) goalie who can take over some of the workload and who also has experience in playoff games.
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