Welcome to my annual player review series, where I dive into the Edmonton Oilers season player-by-player. We’ll look back at the season that was, what kind of impact each player had, and what we could see from them next season. You can read about the analytics behind my analysis here.
In terms of players getting the short end of the stick, there may be fewer players with shorter sticks from this past season than Jeff Skinner.
He arrived last summer in free agency and was almost automatically pencilled into the Oilers’ top-six. After all, it made sense. Despite getting bought out by the Buffalo Sabres, Skinner had still been a solid offensive contributor for the team, but the buyout was more because of his salary, than anything else.
The only problem was that he didn’t quite fit there. A 200-foot game — something the team knew before signing him to his one-year, $3-million deal — wasn’t a strong suit throughout his prior 14 years in the league. So when he got demoted in the lineup and bumped out of it at times, he took it as a sign to improve his game.
He did so noticeably, but it still wasn’t enough. But it didn’t stop him from being a solid contributor for the team, with his five-on-five goals per hour rate and points per hour ranking third on the team being Leon Draisaitl and Zach Hyman, and third behind Drasiaitl and Connor McDavid, respectively.
His individual impacts defensively weren’t strong, at a 13 percent rate below league average, according to Hockey Viz, but he drove offence at a 10 percent rate above league average and his overall impacts — thanks to that offence and his ability to draw penalties — still had his overall contributions at that of a second-line winger. That’s what the Oilers had been hoping for when he signed, and while he didn’t play much in the playoffs, appearing in five games, he chipped in some offence and generated a strong amount of scoring chances and individual expected goals.
Evolving Hockey projected him to sign a three-year deal carrying a $4.7-million cap hit, while AFP Analytics projected a one-year, $2.6-million cap hit deal. Now 11 days into free agency and still unsigned — for some reason — Skinner will likely have to take a deal cheaper than projected.

JEFF SKINNER’S CAREER SO FAR

Season
Team
GP
G
A
P
+/-
PIM
PPG
PPP
SHG
SHP
TOI/G
GWG
OTG
S
S%
FO%
2024-25Edmonton Oilers
72
16
13
29
+1
26
0
2
0
0
13:00
1
0
144
11.1
51.2
2023-24Buffalo Sabres
74
24
22
46
-2
34
8
12
0
0
16:00
3
1
211
11.4
41.9
2022-23Buffalo Sabres
79
35
47
82
+15
39
8
21
0
0
17:24
3
1
242
14.5
47.3
2021-22Buffalo Sabres
80
33
30
63
-14
42
5
11
0
0
17:06
4
0
262
12.6
40.6
2020-21Buffalo Sabres
53
7
7
14
-11
14
1
1
0
0
14:31
0
0
111
6.3
46.7
2019-20Buffalo Sabres
59
14
9
23
-22
18
0
3
0
0
16:29
1
0
183
7.7
37.2
2018-19Buffalo Sabres
82
40
23
63
0
36
8
16
0
0
18:31
7
3
268
14.9
52.2
2017-18Carolina Hurricanes
82
24
25
49
-27
34
4
9
0
0
16:42
2
0
277
8.7
43.3
2016-17Carolina Hurricanes
79
37
26
63
-3
28
7
15
0
0
17:44
4
0
281
13.2
37.0
2015-16Carolina Hurricanes
82
28
23
51
-2
38
4
7
0
0
16:17
7
1
258
10.9
42.6
2014-15Carolina Hurricanes
77
18
13
31
-24
18
4
7
0
0
16:03
2
0
235
7.7
45.7
2013-14Carolina Hurricanes
71
33
21
54
-14
22
11
20
0
0
17:12
6
1
274
12.0
45.1
2012-13Carolina Hurricanes
42
13
11
24
-21
26
5
9
0
0
18:28
0
0
159
8.2
47.7
2011-12Carolina Hurricanes
64
20
24
44
-8
56
4
13
0
0
18:37
5
0
210
9.5
42.1
2010-11Carolina Hurricanes
82
31
32
63
+3
46
6
18
0
0
16:44
2
0
215
14.4
36.9
Career
1078
373
326
699
-129
477
75
164
0
0
16:43
47
7
3330
11.2
44.5

OTHER PLAYER REVIEWS


Zach Laing is Oilersnation’s associate editor, senior columnist, and The Nation Network’s news director. He also makes up one-half of the DFO DFS Report. He can be followed on Twitter, currently known as X, at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach.laing@bettercollective.com.

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