Jeff Skinner believes, after 15 NHL seasons, he has a lot to offer the San Jose Sharks, and they have a lot to offer him.
That was pivotal to the 33-year-old forward’s decision to sign a one-year, $3 million contract with San Jose on Friday.
“As a player you look for someone that’s sort of interested in you or willing to give you an opportunity,” Skinner said Monday. “I know there’s a lot of young talent there and I’m looking forward to getting to know the guys and helping contribute as much as I can to taking that next step.”
The opportunity with the Sharks is far different than the one Skinner had in joining the Edmonton Oilers on a one-year, $3 million contract last season. Edmonton, which has lost to the Florida Panthers in the Stanley Cup Final the past two seasons, provided Skinner with the chance to play in the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time in his career.
San Jose has a promising young core with forwards Macklin Celebrini, 19, Will Smith, 20, and William Eklund, 22, but is a long way from contending for the Stanley Cup after finishing last in the NHL the past two seasons and missing the playoffs in six straight seasons. Skinner has valuable experience, though, that he can share with those young players to help guide them through the next phase of the rebuild.
“It’s always fun to play with great players and that’s what those guys are,” Skinner said. “I think the fun thing to see sort of young guys anytime, but especially I think in today’s game, the steps they take sometimes can be bigger than expected. And I think that with the talent that they already have, the experience they’ve started to gain is only going to help them. So, I’m really excited to join the team.”
The Sharks, in turn, can give Skinner a chance to play on one of their top two lines and regularly on the power play. Although Skinner has scored at least 30 goals six times in his NHL career, including 35 as recently as 2022-23 with the Buffalo Sabres, he was never going to play that kind of role for the Oilers with their world-class offensive talent headed by Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl.
Skinner had 29 points (16 goals, 13 assists) and averaged 13:00 of ice time in 72 regular-season games with Edmonton. He had no power-play goals after he scored eight each of the previous two seasons with Buffalo.
He had two points (one goal, one assist) and averaged 12:13 in ice time in five playoff games, including three games in the Cup Final, which the Panthers won in six games. As much as Skinner enjoyed getting to play in the playoffs for the first time, other than the “disappointing ending,” he also acknowledged, “Every player wants to play.”
“Obviously, the way the year went for me personally in Edmonton there’s a lot of good players in sort of similar situations and [who] had sort of similar skillsets,” he said. “So, it’s just the way it worked out.”
Skinner’s 699 points (373 goals, 326 assists) in 1,078 regular-season games for the Carolina Hurricanes, Sabres and Oilers are evidence he can produce offensively when given the chance. He’s confident he can still do that for the Sharks.
“I, for sure, think that I have a lot left in the tank,” he said. “I think I’m excited to start a new challenge. I think there’s some extra juice and extra energy that comes along with that and I think for sure I’ve got a lot left. I think when I don’t feel that way, I probably won’t play anymore, so I’m real excited to get going.”
Skinner is one of eight veterans San Jose has added this offseason, along with fellow forwards Adam Gaudette, Philipp Kurashev and Ryan Reaves, defensemen Dmitry Orlov, John Klingberg and Nick Leddy, and goalie Alex Nedeljkovic. The hope is that they can support the Sharks’ young core as it continues to grow.
Skinner might be best equipped to be a sounding board for talented young players such as Celebrini, who was the No. 1 pick in the 2024 NHL Draft and a finalist for the Calder Trophy as the League’s rookie of the year last season, when he had 63 points (25 goals, 38 assists) in 70 games. Skinner, the No. 7 pick by Carolina in the 2010 NHL Draft, won the Calder in 2010-11, when he had 63 points (31 goals, 32 assists) in 82 games.
He also knows what it’s like to go through the struggles of a rebuild from his eight seasons with the Hurricanes (2010-2018) and six with the Sabres (2018-2024).
“Anything I can bring to the young guys in terms of a situation they may be going through that I may have personally experienced or may have seen someone go through, I think those kinds of things help,” Skinner said. “Maybe saying what I did, and it didn’t work is a way of helping along someone that doesn’t have the benefit of that experience.”
Skinner was quick to say of Celebrini, “I don’t think I was that talented or that prepared to come into the League as he was from what I’ve seen from afar.”
Still, there could be some words of wisdom from Skinner that can help him and the Sharks’ other young players.
“Like any other guy on the team or any other older guy on the team, if he had a question about sort of my experience in a certain situation that may pop [up], for sure you offer to kind of recount what happened to you and how it played out,” Skinner said. “But him and the other young guys, they’re doing OK.”
