The NHL announced the Four Nations Faceoff during the All-Star break last year. Now, we are five months away from puck drop on the inaugural event.
The four nations — Canada, Finland, Sweden, and the United States — have all announced six players who will represent them at the tournament. Edmonton Oilers star Connor McDavid was one of the six players selected by Team Canada, alongside Cale Makar, Nathan MacKinnon, Sidney Crosby, Brad Marchand, and Brayden Point.
There aren’t many surprises among Canada’s choices for a tournament in which they are the favourites. While Canada’s roster is expected to be filled with talent, as usual, they won’t have the elite goaltending of Martin Brodeur, Roberto Luongo, or Carey Price, as they did in previous best-on-best competitions. Instead, while still talented, the position is filled with players looking to prove themselves on the national stage.
Stuart Skinner is among the goaltenders with the best chance of making the roster. Two of Jordan Binnington, Adin Hill, and Tristan Jarry are alongside him on the majority of people’s projected rosters. However, depending on what happens once the NHL season begins, there are plenty of other goaltenders looking to crack the roster, including Cam Talbot, Connor Ingram, and Samuel Montembeault, to name a few.
Skinner doesn’t get the credit he deserves for the role he’s played in the Oilers’ success. Yes, there have been a couple of letdowns in the playoffs, but overall, the workload has been good. Over the past two seasons, since Skinner became a full-time NHL player, there aren’t many goaltenders better than him, especially among Canadians.
The Oilers’ star goaltender has 10 more wins since the start of the 2022-23 season, with 65 in 109 games played (105 starts). Binnington trails him with 55 wins but has also played nine more games than Skinner (118). Logan Thompson (46 wins in 83 games), Cam Talbot (44 wins in 90 games), and Tristan Jarry (43 wins in 98 games) fill out the top five.
He is fifth in save percentage and goals-against average; however, he’s played more games than the other four goaltenders ahead of him in both categories. He has a 2.68 GAA and a .910 save percentage. Former Oiler Laurent Brossoit is first in both stats, with a 2.05 GAA and a .927 save percentage, but he has only played in 34 games. Unfortunately for Brossoit, despite his numbers, his chances of making Team Canada are slim.
It feels almost certain that Skinner will be named to the Team Canada roster. However, if he wants to solidify himself as the starting goaltender, then he’ll need to continue his strong play in the regular season. Consistency will be key for Skinner, but now that he’s in his third season, that should come more naturally to him.
