Steve Staios may target goalie many fans have given up on

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David St-Jean
May 13, 2026  (12:54)

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Photo credit: Kevin Ng-Imagn Images

Bruce Garrioch dropped a name in the Ottawa Citizen this morning, and it landed with a thud inside the Senators fan base. Stuart Skinner is on Steve Staios' radar.

The report, posted to NHL Rumour Report at 8:00 AM on Tuesday, says Ottawa may have to go the veteran route behind Linus Ullmark next season. Skinner is the name Garrioch floated.

The connection is not subtle. Staios spent years inside the Edmonton organization before taking over as Senators GM in November 2023. He knows the room. He knows the player.

What he also knows is the goalie chart he's currently sitting on.

Ullmark carried a $8.25 million cap hit this year and posted a .890 save percentage across 49 starts. That number alone tells you why Ottawa is shopping for stability behind him.

Leevi Merilainen got 20 games as the backup and finished at .859. James Reimer, 38, gave Staios six wins in 14 starts and a .885. Neither solved the problem.

Travis Green's team finished 44-27-11 with 99 points, ranked ninth overall, and Ottawa beat Toronto 3-1 in their final regular-season game on April 15.

That's a roster too good to leave its second goalie spot to chance again. Staios saw what happened when his backup tandem combined for a sub-.880 number.

Is a Skinner reunion realistic? That depends entirely on how Edmonton handles its own crease. The Oilers' current organizational goalie group on file lists Calvin Pickard, Tristan Jarry, and Connor Ingram. Skinner isn't on it.

Read into that what you want. Staios certainly will.

The fit on paper is strange, though. Skinner has been a starter, not a 1B. Asking him to walk into Ottawa and play 25 nights behind a former Vezina winner is like hiring a head chef and handing him the salad station.

The Senators' goal differential of plus-32 says the structure works. The .246 goals-against total per game says the team in front of the goalie is doing its job.

What it doesn't say is that Ottawa can survive another season of backup roulette. Mads Sogaard got two NHL appearances and won one. That's not a depth chart, that's a fire drill.

Garrioch's piece is a trial balloon. Whether it floats depends on what Stan Bowman does in Edmonton and what Staios is willing to pay to bring in a name he already trusts.

The backup market is going to move fast once free agency opens. Ottawa cannot afford to be late this time.

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Previously

NHL Player Safety faces pressure after controversial Canadiens hit in Game 4

Dirty hit on Ryan Poehling leads to major NHL Player Safety decision

Insiders are circling a possible date for Kris Knoblauch's firing

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