Oilers Forward Jeff Skinner Reaches New Low, Trade Looking to be Certainty
It was announced earlier today that Oilers forward Jeff Skinner had the lowest ice time amongst all Oilers skaters when they won their game against the San Jose Sharks 3-2 in overtime.
Over the past couple of games, head coach Kris Knoblauch continues to lose faith in his forward as he only gave him 7 minutes and 53 seconds of ice time against the Sharks. In his previous game he was only allotted 8 minutes and 6 seconds which is incredible.
It's become clear that the Oilers are not interested in giving him anymore ice time than he deserves as his play continues to struggle and shows no signs of improving.
He currently holds the worst plus minus in the entire team as he is at a - 10 and has six goals with six assists for 12 points through 33 games.
Many in the Oilers organization felt that Skinner could bring a new level of offence if he were to have a change of scenery where he played in Buffalo for many years.
Former interim general manager Jeff Jackson awarded him a one-year deal worth $3,000,000 but this is not what he had hoped for.
Having scored only one goal in five games and see your ice time dwindle, there's only one place to go which is the press box for some time away from the game as a healthy scratch.
There are other players in the Bakersfield Condors who could be far better including Noah Philp, Matthew Savoie or Seth Griffith who all deserve a shot to playing with the Oilers.
One obstacle in their way for the Oilers to make a trade would be to convince him that he must waive his no move clause. It's safe to say the Oilers would receive hardly anything for his services as he would be traded at the lowest in his value.
Fortunately, Skinner only holds a one-year deal which means the Oilers can walk away from him at the end of the year if they cannot trade him.
Time will tell on what general manager Stan Bowman will do but it's safe to say that his hands may be tied with this player and Knoblauch may have to sit a $3,000,000 player in the press box.
| POLL | ||
DECEMBRE 21 | 139 ANSWERS Oilers Forward Jeff Skinner Reaches New Low, Trade Looking to be Certainty What Should Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch do with Jeff Skinner? | ||
| Play him | 88 | 63.3 % |
| Healthy Scratch | 51 | 36.7 % |
| List of polls | ||
