NHL clubs did not hesitate in going wild in the opening week of free agency, with a number of signings that were the product of an increasing salary cap and a pool of unrestricted free agents thin on centers, top-four defensemen, and scoring forwards. One of the more prominent names still unsigned after four days is former Buffalo Sabre Jeff Skinner.
The 33-year-old was bought out of the final three years of his eight-year, $72 million contract last June and quickly signed a one-year, $3 million deal with the Edmonton Oilers. Skinner was thought to be an option for the Oilers in their top-six playing alongside either Leon Draisaitl or Connor McDavid with another former Sabre Evander Kane expected out for the entire regular season.
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That opportunity did not come to fruition with the Oilers, as the former 40-goal scorer played mostly a secondary role in the bottom-six, and dropping from 24 goals in Buffalo to 16 with the Oilers. After playing the first postseason game of his 15-year career against Los Angeles in the first round, Skinner was replaced by Kane in the lineup and did not get back into the Edmonton lineup until the Western Conference Final against Dallas, when replaced the injured Zach Hyman.
Skinner scored his first playoff goal in the clinching game against the Stars and three of the six games in the loss to Florida in the Stanley Cup Final. There has been no indication whether the Oilers will re-sign the veteran winger, but after re-signing Trent Frederic, Kasperi Kapanen, and adding Andrew Mangiapane and Curtis Lazar as UFA’s earlier this week, Edmonton has less than $200,000 in cap space and may have closed the door on a return to Alberta.
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