Oilers Finally Promote Jeff Skinner, Reveal Lineup Before Facing Boston Bruins
The Edmonton Oilers too the ice for practice today with only a slight adjustment to their lineup, moving Jeff Skinner up to the third line before facing the Boston Bruins.
Reports surfaced yesterday that Skinner may not be so willing to waive his no-move clause for a trade out of Edmonton, after he's been a healthy scratch and fourth liner.
Now, it appears he may have earned a little bit more trust from Coach Knoblauch to get a promotion to the third line. Corey Perry will come back into the lineup after being scratched, and Derek Ryan will come out.
Coach Knoblauch spoke to media yesterday and hinted that the Oilers may be rotating their veterans in and out of the lineup on the fourth line, as is seen with Perry and Ryan.
Can Jeff Skinner still be a useful player for the Edmonton Oilers?
There's still plenty of signs that Jeff Skinner has more to give the Edmonton Oilers, if he's given more than 9 minutes of ice time a night.
Despite mostly playing 4th line minutes with defensive forwards, Skinner ranks third on the Oilers in expected goals at 5v5. He's also shooting near 6%, far below his career average of 11%. With more shots, those numbers should regress closer to his career average, which means plenty of goals. For these reasons, some of Skinner's failure is on the coach.
There was reports earlier this season that Skinner may be open to waiving his no move clause for a fresh start elsewhere. However, after the reports yesterday and his decent play since being scratched, perhaps he's fighting to prove his worth to the Oilers.
On the other hand, Oilers analyst Bruce Curlock believes this may be more about helping out a struggling Adam Henrique.
Through 38 games this season, Skinner has only 7 goals and 14 points, pacing for his worst career year since 2020-21.
Hopefully this experiment works for Skinner, and he can continue the quality play he's brought in the last few games. Who knows, maybe his spot on the team can still be salvaged.
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