Tristan Jarry has become the swing that keeps following Stan Bowman around, and it's not going away anytime soon.
This week, Bowman's tenure in Edmonton came under real scrutiny, and the Skinner for Jarry trade sat right at the center of it.
On paper, the swap made some sense. Jarry was bouncing back in Pittsburgh, and Edmonton figured a stronger team in front of him would help him thrive.
That didn't hold up. Jarry made just two starts before getting hurt, lost the net, and Connor Ingram ended up handling the bulk of last season's workload instead.
Jarry finished with 16 wins over 33 games and an .882 save percentage, numbers that don't separate him much from the goalie Edmonton gave up to get him.
The real issue is the contract. At a $5,375,000 cap hit, Jarry costs nearly twice what Edmonton was paying Skinner for a comparable level of play.
Why this trade still limits Edmonton's options today
Taking on two more years of that money ruled Edmonton out of chasing a real starter this offseason, since the books couldn't carry two unproven goalies at once.
Compare that to a team like the Rangers paying Igor Shesterkin big money. They know what 55 healthy starts from him actually look like. Edmonton has no such guarantee here.
General manager Stan Bowman is now running Andersen, Jarry and Levi together as a three-goalie group, a workaround built entirely around a contract that hasn't worked out.
Taking swings is part of the job, but overpaying for a middle-tier goalie in a shaky environment isn't a bold bet, it's bad process, and it's already cost Edmonton real flexibility.
Andersen posted an .874 save percentage over 35 games last season, hardly the kind of production that erases the concerns hanging over this crease heading into camp.
Whether Edmonton finds a way out of this contract, or keeps managing around it for two more years, is the real price tag on that original trade.
Was the Stuart Skinner for Tristan Jarry trade actually bad process for the Oilers?
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