He was one of the Edmonton Oilers big free agent signings last offseason, but so far the match between team and player has been less than productive. Jeff Skinner, coming off of a disappointing final season with the Buffalo Sabres that led to him being bought out by the organization, signed a one-year deal worth $3M with the Oilers. The intention would be to add a scorer and finisher to a team that struggled in the Stanley Cup Final with a lack of finish.
Despite a decent start with two goals and four points in the first five games, Skinner has been next to invisible since then. In the 32 games following that, he has just four goals and nine points. As a result of this and his regular five-plus game pointless streaks, he has found himself out of favour with the coaching staff.
Skinner’s ice time has been slowly dwindling down after the 10th game of the season until the last couple of weeks where he has found himself as a healthy scratch and, when he does play, averaging less than 10 minutes of ice time per game.
His presence on the team, and his cap hit, have become hot topics in Oil Country as we begin to approach the trade deadline. With Evander Kane‘s return impending before the end of the regular season, and depending on what the team does at the deadline, Skinner’s days on the Oilers seem to be outnumbered.
This week, we took to Twitter to ask the fans what they would do with Jeff Skinner.
Want to take part in Sunday Census polls? We send them out every week on our Twitter at @oilrigEDM. Follow along or send in ideas for the next poll!
Jeff Skinner is having a difficult time finding his place in the #Oilers lineup. So far, he’s only amassed 12 points in 36 games. What should Edmonton do with him?
— The Oil Rig (@oilrigEDM) January 2, 2025
Let Skinner play
Just sneaking out a victory in this week’s poll is to give Jeff Skinner more ice time. It was the most popular option with 44.7% of the vote.
This is the logical step to help a player produce as they’re supposed to or expected to, is it not? If you have a smaller, not physical player whose main asset is their shot, is playing them in a fourth line role with no powerplay time going to be the best use of their talents? And is it any surprise when said player does not produce when their linemates are fourth line players with less offensive talent to get him the puck?
The logic is that if the Oilers want Skinner to produce, they need to give him the opportunity to do so. Just the same as playing some players too far up in the lineup can cause them to struggle, the same can be said for putting some players too low in the lineup.
Skinner is shooting at about the same rate as he has the last two seasons according to Hockey Reference, with 10.1 shots per 60 this season compared to 10.7 and 10.6 the previous two, the main struggle is his incredibly low shooting percentage and, as a result, individual PDO.
Just like the Oilers struggled with earlier this season, give Skinner some ice time, give him some time and chances with players who can drive the play offensively, and eventually, he should start to score more.
His time has come: time to trade Skinner
At a certain point, the experiment has to be deemed failed and come to a close. As Skinner gets further and further out of the lineup and his role becomes even smaller than it already is, he needs to be sent somewhere where he can have a chance for a fresh start in a different organization. The Oilers are in far too important of a season to sit around waiting for him to find his game heading into the second half of the season.
Perhaps the biggest argument for making this move now is the saved cap space. If Skinner is spending his time on the fourth line and as a healthy scratch, there are far cheaper players who can fill that role. The cap savings can be put towards bringing Kane back into the lineup or acquiring an upgrade at the deadline, instead.
The decision to trade Skinner was the second most favoured option in this week’s poll, garnering 39.8% of the fan vote.
Skinner can be a good 13th forward
Back in third place in this week’s poll is the 9.7% of fans who want to see Skinner remain with the Oilers, but in his current role as the 13th forward. He hasn’t quite been good enough to remain consistently in the lineup, and the Oilers already struggle with speed and physicality at times, both of which are not Skinner’s specialties.
However, there will come a time where the team needs a bit of extra scoring punch or a role higher in the lineup opens up due to slump or injury, and then Skinner’s talents are much more relevant. He would be a better option in the top six than some of the other bottom six forwards with his scoring history.
There is also something to be said for working with players through their rough patches and seeing them come through better and stronger afterwards. Coach Kris Knoblauch seems to understand this, as he is adamant publicly that Skinner will get his chance, the Oilers were just at a stage where everyone else was playing extremely well above him.
If they hang on just a bit longer, Skinner could become a valuable part of this roster down the stretch.
Just put him on waivers
Trading Skinner might prove to be difficult, given his performance this season and cap hit. Although it is only $3M, many teams would not be interested in taking that on while giving up anything of value in return. There is a good chance that Skinner would end up being treated as a cap dump and require the Oilers to give up another asset to get a team to take the rest of his deal. Luckily, it is only a one-year contract and by the time a deal would be made, there would not be much money left on it. Best case scenario could be a trade for future considerations.
But that concern, combined with a possible weak trade market for an underperforming and inconsistent winger with a very niche set of skills, could be why the best option might be to just waive Skinner and either hope a team claims him or the Oilers can then bury him the AHL for the rest of the season.
This is obviously not ideal, and it was the option in last place in this week’s poll with just 5.8% of the vote.
What would you do with Jeff Skinner? Drop a comment down below!
You can’t put a player with a no-movement clause on waivers, genius. Nor do you really have the option of trading him.
Skinner has a no movement clause, which means he can’t be moved with out his approval. Going on waivers is a movement