CAMP: Campbell, Skinner focused on forming a formidable Oilers goalie tandem

EDMONTON, AB – Both Jack Campbell and Stuart Skinner are acutely aware of the role they’ll play between the pipes for the Edmonton Oilers this coming season as one of the many pieces that’ll contribute to the club’s sky-high ambitions of lifting a Stanley Cup.

The key part of that sentence? ONE of the pivotal pieces.

“It doesn't really matter what they say,” Skinner said. “I think what matters is what's going on with Jack, myself and the rest of the team. It's a team game.”

Both goaltenders are unique individuals and players who hold their own personal obligations and on-ice ambitions of appearing in as many games as possible for the Oilers this coming 2023-24 NHL campaign after each shot-stopper concluded last year to differing levels of individual success.

In the NHL, which has quickly evolved into becoming more of a two-goalie league over the past number of seasons, the sum of both of their individual parts – their skillsets, their successes and their shortcomings – will form the basis of a goaltending tandem that will be judged as one on the collective results it produces in goal for the Oilers this season.

For Campbell and Skinner, their single-minded focus, strong personal drive and unshakeable friendship as two different goalies competing for the same crease on a day-in, day-out basis will be major factors that will contribute to them producing the results Edmonton needs from its netminders in order to achieve their championship aspirations.

Everything else to them is just noise.

“We have a good competition with each other every single day, on the ice and off the ice,” Skinner said. “We have our morning coffees and we kind of chat about some stuff and it's been good. He and I have a good, tight relationship, so we're excited to get going and we're excited to compete against each other.”

“Stu's a great goalie and a great teammate,” Campbell added. “I think the team’s in pretty good hands when both of us are going, so my focus is on making sure I'm ready and I know he's doing the same.”

Campbell will be the first to categorize the first year of his five-year contract with the Blue & Orange as a challenge; but also, one of the most important stretches of his career.

The Port Huron, Mich. native produced a 21-9-4 record, 3.41 goals-against average and .888 save percentage in 36 games in ’22-23 – all steps back from his previous season with the Toronto Maple Leafs – but is approaching Oilers Training Camp with a renewed approach of having a short memory when it comes to bad results and using both his shortcomings and brief segments of success from last year as fuel to drive a bounce-back season.

“I just learned so much last year, and my standard for myself is so much higher than that,” he said. “So much good came from having such a tough year as far as my growth this summer, and my focus is getting back to where I know I can be at and even elevating that from what I've done in the past.”

One of the biggest bright spots for Campbell over his challenging campaign was the friendship he formed with Skinner and the valuable lessons the rookie netminder was able to help teach him – even despite their seven years of age difference and different levels of experience.

"You all [the media] get to watch him and see how great he is. He's fun to work with," Campbell said.

"I learned a lot from him on the ice, but off the ice, we have a very similar competitiveness and a kind of care for each other. He's a big reason I was able to get so much work done this summer off the ice. He just gave me some good pointers and it just speaks volumes about the kind of person he is and I'm just proud to call my teammate."

Skinner, the Edmonton-born netminder, took the reigns as the Blue & Orange's starter when Campbell struggled out of the gate and earned his plaudits as an NHL All-Star and Calder Trophy finalist as the League’s top rookie with a 29-14-5 record, 2.73 goals-against average and .914 save percentage.

But now, the 24-year-old has even higher expectations for himself after accruing a full year of NHL experience and experiencing both the highs of the regular season and the lows of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, which are a whole different animal at this level.

"Obviously there are different things that you can always be working on and getting better at," he said. "Coming into this year, just using that experience to the best of my capabilities. I've got a full year in the NHL now, and just bringing that into this season I know what to expect and I know the teams that I'll be facing, so it'll be good. I'm excited to get going here."

Skinner and Campbell kept in close consultation with one another over the offseason, and since arriving at Captain's Skates two weeks ago well ahead of the start of Training Camp, the two netminders have been working just as hard off the ice at building their relationship as a single goaltending tandem that'll have major implications in the success of Edmonton's season.

The two goalies, however, look at the task with a simpler mindset of backing each other up when they get their opportunities and pushing one another on a day-to-day basis instead of continuously jockeying for the right to call themselves 'the starter'.

More than ever in the NHL, it takes two to tango from the twine and both have a keen understanding of that concept.

They have no idea who'll start Edmonton's season opener on Oct. 11 against the Canucks, and they simply aren't worried about it.

"I have no idea, to be honest," Campbell said. "I'm just really pumped to be back right now, to just feel like myself again, and just to go out and have some fun tomorrow stopping some pucks, because I know I can definitely do that."

"For me, I'm just looking forward to Camp," Skinner added. "I'm looking forward to tomorrow and being able to get on the ice again. It's been awesome skating for the last two weeks with all the guys again, and I feel good. I'm ready to get going here."