As we've previously written, little has gone right so far for Jeff Skinner this season. Brought in during the offseason to help boost the Edmonton Oilers' attacking arsenal, he has instead looked little like the player who has averaged around 25 goals and 48 total points during a long and productive NHL career.
Skinner started off decently enough, with two goals and four total points in his first five appearances for the Oilers. Since then however he has seen a drop-off in his productivity, with just four goals and eight overall points in his 26 subsequent games.
Now yes, the 32-year-old is still going to end up doing a fair bit better than his career-worst season of 2020-21, when he totalled just 14 points. However, he's also on course to be nowhere near his career-best season of just two years ago, when he finished with 82 points.
We appreciate that Skinner's contract of one year and just $3 million is extremely team-friendly, but a lot more was quite rightly expected of him. It also doesn't help when he has a team-worst -8 rating, although we appreciate the relevance of this is debatable depending on who you speak to.
Skinner could well be traded
In any event, there is now talk of Skinner being moved prior to the Mar. 7 trade deadline. At least according to former Oilers defenceman Jason Strudwick.
Giving due credit to Jim Parsons of NHL Trade Talk, Strudwick discussed the situation surrounding the 2010 seventh overall draft pick on his Got Yer' Back podcast. He said:
"I believe there’s going to be a mutual agreement to say guys, this just isn’t working out. Let’s find a solution where we’re going to get the chance to move you to someplace you can play and play more. He’s not a fourth-liner."
Whether there is already an agreement in place is not officially confirmed, but we appreciate that Strudwick has his contacts, combined with an excellent understanding of how the league works. He spent three seasons in Edmonton at the back-end of his playing career, and won't have come to his conclusion without some inside information.
Now of course this could all disappear, if Skinner begins playing more like how he has done for the majority of his 14+ seasons in the NHL. If not however, then we agree that it's entirely conceivable he will be on the move prior to the deadline.
If a trade does materialise, it will be interesting to see where Skinner ends up. Expected to finally see the NHL's longest ever player playoff drought conclude this season with the Oilers, he could instead see it extended indefinitely if he doesn't end up with another team vying for a postseason spot.