The Jeff Skinner experiment hasn’t gone the way he or the Edmonton Oilers had hoped when the goal-scoring winger agreed to a one-year, $3 million deal to join the team on the second day of free agency.
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Skinner, who has scored north of 30 goals six times in his career, took a discount to join Edmonton. It made plenty of sense, as he has yet to play a playoff game in his lengthy NHL career. The Oilers, fresh off a run to the Stanley Cup Final, gave him a great opportunity to not only suit up in the playoffs but also win a championship.
Oilers Not Giving Skinner Much of a Role
One thing that was clear to everyone – Skinner included – heading into the season: he wouldn’t see much power-play time. The Oilers have had a dominant power-play unit for years, manned by Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Zach Hyman, and Evan Bouchard. The coaching staff was never going to change that.
While the lack of time on the power play suggested Skinner wouldn’t be in the running to hit the 40-goal mark as he did in 2018-19, he was still expected to get plenty of opportunity in a top-six role. After all, what the Oilers lacked the most when they just missed out on a Cup championship last season was a few top-six wingers to play alongside Draisaitl. The Skinner signing was expected to fix that issue.
However, he hasn’t been granted that opportunity. He’s played north of 16 minutes in just three of his 36 games this season and is averaging less than 13 minutes overall. The team’s only regular forwards who average less ice time are Derek Ryan, Corey Perry, and Kasperi Kapanen.
Instead of Skinner, Vasily Podkolzin has played alongside Draisaitl on the second line, and some thought he would struggle to make the team out of training camp. He hasn’t set the world on fire, with just three goals and 13 points through 37 games. Still, he continues to get most of the opportunities alongside Draisaitl, indicating just how little head coach Kris Knoblauch thinks of Skinner’s game.
It would be one thing if Skinner was given that opportunity and played his way off the line. He got some looks in the early portion of the season but, more often than not, found himself in a bottom-six role. It’s been confusing and puts into question why the Oilers signed him in the first place.
Skinner Has Flaws in His Game
While his lack of opportunity has been frustrating, Skinner doesn’t get a full pass here. He has been offensively productive in his career but has had some rather pitiful seasons as well. Some of it boils down to inconsistencies, but the seasons when he has struggled the most have come with a new head coach behind the bench.
The problem is that as offensively gifted as Skinner is, he struggles defensively, which makes him a difficult option to trust and could be why Knoblauch hasn’t utilized him. His plus/minus of minus-11 is the worst on the team, with Ryan and Kapanen’s minus-6 being the closest. Skinner also isn’t the fleetest of foot. In a game that seems to get faster each season, it might have caught up to him this season and could be preventing him from generating more scoring opportunities.
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Despite these flaws, it would still be nice to see Skinner get a real opportunity in a top-six role to see how he performs. It’s hard to imagine management saw him as a bottom-six forward when they signed him, yet that’s the role he’s had for much of the season. At some point, they should try him in a position that suits his strengths to see if this signing could still prove to be worth their while.
