The Edmonton Oilers coaching staff has reunited a top-six group that hasn’t been seen since the early days of the season.

Kris Knoblauch and co. have moved to bring back the top line of Connor McDavid, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Zach Hyman amid one of the Oilers captain’s worst stretches in some time. But that’s not the only lineup change, according to Oilers colour commentator Bob Stauffer, who highlighted Jeff Skinner’s elevation to the second line alongside Leon Draisaitl and Viktor Arvidsson.

“It was a difficult decision to make,” Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch said Thursday. “Matt’s played real well.

“Just looking at our team needs and the players that we have, and just getting a little bit harder to play against. I like his edge, I like the way he plays and I think he did a lot of good things. There will be a time I’m certain he’ll be back with our team and playing. Right now, we’re just going with the guys that have been with us the majority of the season.”

Edmonton’s bottom-six, meanwhile, will see Adam Henrique centre Mattias Janmark and Connor Brown. At the same time, Kasperi Kapanen will slide to the middle of the ice on the fourth line with Vasily Podkolzin and Corey Perry.

The lineup changes come as the Oilers are riding their longest losing streak of the season, having lost four straight games to the Colorado Avalanche, Philadelphia Flyers, Washington Capitals, and Tampa Bay Lightning.

McDavid’s struggles this season were documented earlier this week, noting how his game has been off this season as a whole, but has really dipped since he returned from a three-game suspension for his cross-check on Conor Garland. It comes as Hyman’s goal scoring reverted back to what we saw before he scored 70 combined goals in the regular season and playoffs last year.

Skinner, meanwhile, returns to the lineup after finding himself healthy scratched against in the Oilers loss against the Lightning on Tuesday. He’s been finding his game in recent weeks, leading the team in five-on-five goals per hour and points per hour since the Edmonton returned from their Christmas break.

He’s reunited with Draisaitl and Arvidsson for the first time since the beginning of the season, when they played 36 minutes together. This trio had been pencilled in by pundits in the offseason as the second line, but they never got much runway.

While they hadn’t scored a goal in that limited ice-time, they had success driving play, controlling 63.8 percent of the shot attempt share, 67.7 percent of the scoring chance share and 66.7 percent of the expected goal share, creating 3.11 expected goals per hour.

The Oilers lineup will see some other changes, as Darnell Nurse will miss Thursday’s game with an undisclosed injury.

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@thenationnetwork.com.