Oilers’ Stuart Skinner hates his stats but learning to love his game

EDMONTON — A clean-up hitter in New York. A striker in Barcelona or Buenos Aries. A quarterback in Dallas.

A goalie in a Canadian market, who is a candidate for Team Canada.

What do these people have in common?

They should never, ever consult social media.

“Sometimes it’s easy to care (about public opinion), especially when things aren’t going your way,” begins Stuart Skinner, the Edmonton Oilers goalie who doesn’t mind his game but, frankly, hates his stats this season. “When your stats are bad, sometimes you do look for outside approval. And then you realize: you don’t see it.

“I’m trying to grow out of that,” said Skinner, 26, the expected Oilers starter for Saturday’s Hockey Night in Canada visit to Toronto. “I’m trying to grow up and become a little bit more mature in the sense of knowing myself. Because I do know myself better than anyone else.

“It’s easy to look at that stuff, but I’m doing my best not to.”

For Skinner — or Joseph Woll, or Kevin Lankinen, or Linus Ullmark … — the six inches between your sideburns is as important as the 24 square feet in between the pipes. In fact, mental strength is a prerequisite to success in a Canadian market, where everyone thinks they know a good goal from a bad one — when, in reality, a good goal is one scored by the home team, and a bad one is any goal scored by the opposition.

That means no social media, and no friends relaying posts and outside opinions to him.

“Whether it’s close friends or even family,” said Skinner, an easygoing guy who is protective of his non-hockey hours away from the rink. “Saying, ‘I don’t want to talk about hockey.’ Or, ‘I don’t want to talk about what you guys see on the TV.’

“I would make it very clear that we’re just … let’s talk about something else. Let’s talk golf,” he said. “I learned that lesson pretty quick, playing for Edmonton and playing in a Canadian market. It’s really easy to let other people affect how you think your game actually is.”

The stats show that Skinner isn’t saving enough chances off the rush. Those numbers led to chatter after a recent goal by Kyle Palmieri, an annual 25-goal man who has been cashing in similar chances throughout a 13-year career who one-timed a lovely cross-ice pass into the top corner behind Skinner.

New York Islanders fans focused on the snipe; Oilers fans, on the (nearly impossible) save they didn’t get.

In the end, a 3.22 goals-against average and an .881 save percentage through his first 11 starts this season don’t paint a pretty picture — even if his numbers over his last seven starts (2.82, .896) are improving.

“I’m still working through that stuff,” Skinner said. “When it’s really good, it’s easy not to look at (the stats). When it’s really bad, it’s easy to look at them.

“What I have learned is that the win column is the most important stat,” he said. “It’s easy to be selfish; it can be hard to be selfless and only care about the wins. But that’s ultimately what everybody really cares about. If you get enough wins to make the playoffs, you did your job.”

If they picked Team Canada for the 4 Nations Face-Off today, Skinner would likely be free to book a February trip to Cancun. When they actually reveal the rosters on Dec. 4, however, we’ll see if Skinner’s game has corrected itself enough for him to be included.

To get a chip and a chair, with a chance to seize the starter’s job once camp begins.

“I haven’t thought about it at all. To be honest,” he said this week. “You know that your name’s out there, but at the same time, it can always change. So, I’m not too worried about if I’m going to make the team or not.

“To be completely honest, I’m just trying to keep getting my game just a little bit better each and every day, so that I can perform for Edmonton.”

For a goalie behind a slow-starting team like Edmonton to have a slow-starting stats line should not surprise. Of course, if Skinner were sharper, perhaps his team’s record would be as well.

You cannot question, however, the accomplishment of a season ago, when Skinner took the Oilers to Game 7 of a Stanley Cup Final.

What were his numbers over that run?

“I have no clue,” he said. “Because it doesn’t matter. You went to Game 7. All you care about is trying to win a Stanley Cup. It doesn’t matter if you’re at a .950 or a .600 (save percentage).”

And so we turn to Skinner’s mental mentor, Grant Fuhr, who would direct you to count the Stanley Cup rings on his fingers, rather than the number of pucks that eluded him over a Hall of Fame career.

Skinner admires how Fuhr could preserve an 8-6 game — “Never give up the seventh goal,” he said, laughing — and how Fuhr was eternally calm. Almost aloof, it seemed.

And whether Team Canada comes calling or not, Skinner feels like he’s getting where he wants to go. Not yet in his prime — not yet a goalie with 150 NHL starts (Toronto is No. 130) — this Edmonton native knows one thing for sure:

His numbers might not be better this season than last. But his overall game certainly is.

“I would just say throughout the experience that I got, especially in the playoffs, that has got to make it better. It made me a much better goalie and much better mentally as well,” he said. “We all know what happened in the Vancouver series for me, and that only made me better and stronger.

“I don’t see how I’m not a better goalie right now.”