NHL contract grades: Oilers buy low on veteran winger Jeff Skinner

The contract

Edmonton Oilers sign winger Jeff Skinner to a one-year deal with a $3 million AAV.

Whenever anyone ever talks about Jeff Skinner, it seems, all they can ever do is focus on the negatives, the things he can’t do. Can’t play in traffic. Doesn’t go hard to the net. Too small at 5-11. Too slight at 187. Smooth skater — that’s the figure skating background — but prone to long stretches of time when the goalscoring can go ice cold. Not great for someone primarily known as a scorer. And, up until the Buffalo Sabres bought out the final three years of his contract the other day, a player vastly overpaid for what he produces. Skinner isn’t, and maybe never was, a $9 million per year player.

Of course, none of which really matters to the Oilers, who took a calculated risk Monday and signed Skinner to a one-year deal worth $3 million. The Oilers added Skinner once the early rush to sign players slowed down. Now that his salary has shrunk by two-thirds, the risk/reward ratio suddenly tilts a little more favorably in the direction of the player. Because Skinner is just 32. He does have 1,006 NHL games under his belt. He was the Calder Trophy winner as the NHL’s rookie of the year in 2011 — and even in a down year like last year, still scored 24 goals in 74 games. In Edmonton, only Zach Hyman, Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl scored more than 24 goals last season. And prior to this year, Skinner had posted consecutive 30-goal seasons. So, he definitely represents a gamble worth taking.

From Skinner’s perspective, Edmonton is an attractive destination primarily for one reason. In a career that began 14 years ago, he’s never played in a single NHL playoff game. That’s an NHL record. With the Oilers, given that they were within a game of winning the Stanley Cup this past season, he’ll almost certainly get a chance to end that drought. Along with Viktor Arvidsson signed earlier in the day, the Oilers added two natural scorers to their top nine — for reasonable dollars. Considering how many players were already off the board by the time Skinner came to terms, that’s a decent late-in-the-game move.

Contract grade: B
Fit grade: B

(Photo: Bill Wippert / NHLI via Getty Images)