Oilers head of analytics reveals Jeff Skinner's biggest problem

Skinner was drafted 7th overall by the Carolina Hurricanes in 2010, and has shown elite offensive talent throughout his entire career. He's scored 357 goals and 670 points in 1006 games, but has played on non-competitive teams his whole career. Despite having clear talent, he posts some extremely poor analytics numbers - and Oilers head of analytics Michael Parkatti has an interesting theory why.

When analyzing whether or not the Oilers should take a risk of signing an aging offensive player with poor analytics, Brad Holland and Michael Parkatti stepped up to defend Skinner. Brad Holland suggested that his numbers are poor because he's played on poor teams. Parkatti says that the poor results may be legitimate, but it could be from poor confidence from playing heavy minutes on a bad team.

If either executive's line of thinking is correct, the Oilers will be able to solve Skinner's biggest problems. On a much better team Skinner can be protected from playing too much defensively, and he should gain a boost of confidence if he can have offensive success with the Oilers. Skinner will likely be playing alongside McDavid or Draisaitl, and he may be able to put up serious point totals. Just two years ago with a brutal Sabres team, Skinner was able to score 35 goals and 82 points. Certainly, it's worth the risk of a one year, $3M contract.

The Oilers are already running Jeff Skinner with Leon Draisaitl and Victor Arvidsson in informal practices before training camp, giving fans a glimpse into what the second line could be this upcoming season. If each player plays to their full potential, the Oilers second line will be out scoring many other team's top line - and they may just be impossible to beat.

Source for Jeff Skinner Stats and Contract: PuckPedia - Jeff Skinner