Edmonton Oilers’ forward Jeff Skinner has over 1,000 NHL games under his belt, but he is in uncharted territory right now.
The 32-year-old Toronto native has made a career of being a reliable top-six sniper who gets lots of chances on the powerplay. When the Oilers signed him to a one-year deal last summer, many assumed that kind of play would continue in the Alberta capital, but that has been far from the case.
Instead, Skinner quickly fell down the depth chart and now finds himself in the pressbox almost as much as he is on the ice. Over the last nine games, Skinner has been a healthy scratch in five.
It’s not ideal and is a situation that he has never really found himself in. Daily Hive sat down with Skinner following Wednesday morning’s practice and asked him how the day-to-day dialogue has been with Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch.
“It’s been fine,” Skinner said. “I think if we were having conversations I wouldn’t be saying it out in the media, it’s just part of being on a team and, yeah, it’s been fine.”
There have been long stretches this season where Skinner has been fighting the puck, but it seems to be going a bit better lately. He was snake-bitten at the start of this current homestand, generating plenty of chances but not being able to find the back of the net.
That all changed over the weekend when he scored his eighth of the season against his former team, the Buffalo Sabres. It was a goal that held a bit more significance than usual.
“There is a little more excitement or talk before the game, after the game whenever there is a deep connection with a team,” Skinner said. “I spent a lot of time [in Buffalo], I know a lot of people on the other side, and I have a lot of good friends over there.
“Maybe all of that surrounding it heightens the excitement around it… It was nice to get one in general and nice to contribute to the win.”
Jeff Skinner scores in his first game against his former team, the Sabres pic.twitter.com/Bh99MVCrQM
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) January 25, 2025
Despite the goal, Skinner found himself scratched the very next game against the Seattle Kraken. Knoblauch told media on Wednesday that he has been satisfied with how Skinner is playing, but that the team can only ice so many players on any given night.
“Getting opportunities, he’s had some scoring chances,” Knoblauch said. “It’s a very difficult decision taking anybody out of the lineup; we’ve been very happy with how everybody has been playing.
“He’s been playing well, but he was our odd guy out [against Seattle], and I don’t think that’s fair to anybody when they’re playing well, but we’ve got a lot of players that are good and playing well.”
“We haven’t decided that yet, he’s still gotta check in with the medical staff. We’d like this week & if it doesn’t happen this week, it’ll be next week.”
Coach Knoblauch on whether John Klingberg could make his #Oilers debut tomorrow.@Enterprise | #LetsGoOilers pic.twitter.com/AYhacyrGck
— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) January 29, 2025
It’s bound to be frustrating to play so well and not be in the lineup, but when asked about his play, Skinner said he is focused on improving with each passing day.
“There are always little parts of your game you wanna try to keep improving,” Skinner said. “I feel like I got another level to my game and I think, as the season goes along, you wanna chip away at things you wanna improve, build on the good things.
“That’s all part of being a hockey player in the NHL and playing an 82-game season.”
Being in and out of the lineup is just one of the major adjustments the former Calder Trophy winner has to deal with this season. He is playing on a winning team for the first time in his career, having never played a single postseason game with either the Carolina Hurricanes or the Sabres.
While he may not be a premier player on the Oilers, he only had good things to say about his Edmonton experience so far.
“It’s been great,” Skinner said. “It’s a really good team. We’ve been playing really well as of late and I am just happy to be here.
“All the guys are really good guys, a really good group, and it’s been a good experience.”