Edmonton Oilers sign forward Jeff Skinner to one-year contract

The Edmonton Oilers have signed unrestricted free agent forward Jeff Skinner to a one-year contract, Daily Faceoff hockey insider Frank Seravalli reported Monday evening.

Skinner, 32, collected 24 goals and 46 points in 74 games with the Buffalo Sabres during the 2023-24 regular season. This past weekend, the Sabres bought out the final three years of Skinner’s previous contract, which carried a $9 million annual cap hit.

According to Seravalli, Skinner’s new contract with the Oilers carries a $3 million cap hit for the 2024-25 season.

Late last season, Skinner became the first player in National Hockey League history to appear in 1,000 career games without making a single playoff appearance in his career. Now, he’ll join Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl with the Oilers, who came within one game of the Stanley Cup this past season.

The Carolina Hurricanes originally selected Skinner with the No. 7 overall pick in the 2010 NHL Draft. The Toronto, Ontario product stepped right into the NHL with the Hurricanes in the 2010-11 season, winning the Calder Memorial Trophy as the league’s top rookie after scoring 31 goals and 63 points in 82 games.

Skinner spent the first eight seasons of his career with the Hurricanes, reaching the 30-goal mark on three separate occasions, before being traded to the Sabres in 2018 in exchange for forward Cliff Pu and three draft picks. The Hurricanes have not missed the playoffs in a single season since they traded Skinner.

Immediately after joining the Sabres, Skinner scored a career-high 40 goals in 82 games with the club in the 2018-19 season and signed a massive eight-year extension worth $9 million per season. However, he scored just 21 goals in total in the first two seasons of that contract while struggling under then-head coach Ralph Krueger.

Skinner rebounded to score 33, 35, and 24 goals in his final three seasons in Buffalo, but it wasn’t enough to prevent the Sabres from exercising a buyout on him as free agency neared. He is the second forward to join the Oilers in free agency this July 1, following former Los Angeles Kings winger Viktor Arvidsson.

Through 1,006 career games over 14 NHL seasons with the Hurricanes and Sabres, Skinner has collected 357 goals and 670 points. As mentioned, he has yet to play in a single Stanley Cup Playoff game in his entire NHL career.