BREAKING: SAN JOSE SHARKS SIGN JEFF SKINNER TO A ONE YEAR DEAL

BREAKING: SAN JOSE SHARKS SIGN JEFF SKINNER TO A ONE YEAR DEAL

The San Jose Sharks add veteran forward Jeff Skinner to the mix. What are they getting? You’re Locked On Sharks, your daily podcast on the San Jose Sharks, part of the Locked On podcast network, your team every day. Hello, welcome to Locked On Sharks, the premier hockey podcast covering your favorite team in the Bay Area. My name is JD Young, caretaker at the reef, also co-host of Locked on NHL. I want to thank you for making Locked on Sharks your first listen or second listen or potentially third listen of the day. Uh proudly part of the Locked Onet. We cover your team every day. Um today we’re going to be another kind of emergency podcast. Jeff Skinner signs with the San Jose Sharks to a oneyear deal at $3 million. So, we’re going to be breaking this down, uh, looking at what Jeff Skinner brings to the Sharks, where he fits in, and, uh, what this might mean for Michael Misa. So, um, before we get to all that, do want to let you guys know today’s episode is brought to you by Game Time. Download the Game Time app, create an account, and use code locked on NHL for $20 off your first purchase. So, uh, the San Jose Sharks signed veteran forward Jeff Skinner. And I actually really like this move. Uh, we talked earlier this week about some potential, uh, scoring wingers. We knew Mike Greer was looking for a potential scoring winger. You went out and you found a guy who can put the puck in the back of the net. Um, so Jeff Skinner, if you don’t know, we will do kind of the, um, you know, uh, get to know Jeff Skinner a little bit and his history and his game and all that stuff. And then, of course, we’ll talk about kind of where he fits in with the Sharks. But, uh, Jeff Skinner, former first round pick, seventh overall of the Carolina Hurricanes, uh, way back in the 2010 NHL draft, former Calder winner as well, won the CER in 2010 2011. Uh some would stay say stealing it from loan couture uh which is a fair assessment but anyway he did also score 31 goals that year which is pretty ridiculous as well. So uh Skinner is a guy who is bas spent most of his career between uh Carolina where he was there from 20 uh from 2010 all the way through 20120 or sorry 2018. Uh, and then he went to the Buffalo Sabres, uh, where he was, uh, got traded there and then was there for a long time until, uh, the 2024 season where he was bought out. Um, last year he signed with the Edmonton Oilers, finally getting to play in the playoffs, and then apparently Jeff Skinner said, “No more playoffs for me.” As he signs with the San Jose Sharks. That’s a joke. Uh but Skinner is a guy who’s played over a thousand career games, has 373 goals, has a really like an outside chance this season. I’m more like he has a pretty good chance to hit 400 by the end of the year with the Sharks. Uh 326 assists, 699 points uh in his career. Um this last season was much more of a reduced role with the Edmonton Orio as you would expect, right? with guys like McDavid and Dry Cidle and you know all the the weaponry that they have kind of saw himself in a much smaller role compared to what he was used to. Um especially with the Sabres and where he was playing you know basically topline minutes for them. Um you know and and last year definitely was not playing anywhere near that. Uh so looking at uh what Jeff Skinner did this year. Um so he again 5’11 200 lb 33 years old just turned 33 one year is at 3 million the exact same contract he signed last season played 72 games with the Oilers 16 goals 13 assists with 144 shots on goal playing 13 minutes a night when he was on the ice though 52.37% cory force. So, uh, the Oilers when he was on the ice were taking 52% of the shot attempts and goals for when he was on the ice, the Oilers were scoring 50.77% of the goals that were scored. Uh, looking at his evolving hockey, uh, Jeff Skinner kind of playing between second and third line minutes at five on five second uh, unit power play. Of course, isn’t going to see short-handed time. Um, he’s here to drive offense and score goals. like you’re not getting much defensively. Uh 28th percentile player um and with his kind of where he was uh with his uh sorry 28th percentile player with his time on ice, 40th percentile offensively, 9th percentile defensively. Um did a good job with the expect like drove expected goals and actually probably should have scored more goals when he was on the ice, but uh it just didn’t really kind of work out for him with that. looking as a advanced hockey stats from JFresh. Um so 72 percentile war over the past three seasons but you have seen a decline. So 22 23 he was up near like in the 90 percentile 23 24 dropped down to 23 to 20 uh to about uh 60 percentile and then this year was right about the 50 percentile. So uh again offense even strength offense he’s going to drive that. He’s going to help on the power play. He’s going to help you score goals. He’s he’s good at like actually finishing his goals. Um didn’t play the toughest competition but and had good two teammates which you would expect with with Skinner um playing on the Oilers, right? Uh especially like in a reduced role. We we know how stacked this team was. Um and he took advantage of of of those opportunities. So, um, you know, looking at how he was utilized, uh, was definitely given a lot of offensive zone starts against weaker competition, which is what you would want to do, right? Um, is try to put good players in a position to succeed and take advantage. And that’s kind of what Jeff Skinner’s role was for the Oilers. Um, when you talk about a guy who can put the puck in the back of the net, and again, the Sharks were the worst team in the NHL when it came to scoring. uh dead last for goals four. Um this is a guy who can really really help you. Uh Jeff Skinner is a a player who has scored has had multiple 30 goal seasons. One, two, uh three, four, five 30 goal seasons plus a 40 goal season in the 201819 season. Um and even one of those 30 goal seasons was 22 23. So, you know, not that long ago that he was at, you know, like scoring uh at a a pretty high rate. And even this year, 16 goals while playing 13 minutes a night. Like, that is not too bad. Like, this is a guy who definitely is going to help the San Jose Sharks score. Um, you know, when it comes to some of the accolades and stuff, like I said, a former CER winner, uh, was on the all rookie team, has played in the All-Star game and stuff like that for Buffalo. um you know and and this like I I the more I think about it I I really do like this signing because of um one it wasn’t very expensive right at $3 million uh and two he does exactly what the Sharks need which is uh to score goals um and he is a certified goal scorer on a team that needs more certified goal scorers. So, where does Jeff Skinner kind of fit into the Sharks and where should we expect to see him play and uh what uh what does this mean for some of the younger players? So, uh we’ll get to that here in just one second. If you need to go catch a baseball game, maybe you want to go see the uh Giants Dodgers this weekend or tickets to the All-Star game or whatever it is that you want to go do, you need to check out Game Time. Uh Game Time makes it super easy, even day of game. 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O L O L O L O L O L O L O L O L O L O L O C K E D O N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N NHL for $20 off. Download the Game Time app. Last minute tickets lowest price guaranteed. All right. Uh before we continue, do of course want to thank you for making Lockdown Sharks your first, second, or potentially third lesson of the day. If you haven’t yet, uh perfect time to subscribe. Uh even though it’s the off season, uh we still have plenty of great content for you. Uh we’re going to be kind of doing a nice roster reset. Uh next week, we’ll also be uh digging into uh some more of the Sharks top picks, including Joshua Ravensburg and you know, digging into the tape and and all that fun stuff with him. So, uh, make sure you guys are following along wherever you get podcasts and of course you can watch on YouTube as well. So, where does Jeff Skinner fit? And Mike Greer uh, from his availability said I foresee him to be a uh, top six winger, which is kind of right. We knew the Sharks wanted to add another scoring punch, right? That was kind of the word. And I’m sure they they kind of dug around and tried to see if they could, you know, maybe make a trade or whatever and and things just didn’t happen, right? Uh we knew the Sharks were interested in uh Eers and Brock Ber and of course Eers went to Carolina and Brockb went back to the Canucks. Um, and I think for the Sharks, right, getting a guy like Jeff Skinner, a proven goal scorer on a one-year deal at $3 million continues to give you some flexibility, right? Where um I think he can have a Tyler to Foley like impact, not be Tyler to Foley, but like a Tyler to Foley impact, especially on the ice, right? a guy who has played for some struggling teams and can can you can kind of help the young players work their way through that and kind of manage that. Right. Um I mean he spent a lot of time with the Buffalo Sabres. Uh last time I checked it’s been a long time since the Buffalo Sabres made the playoffs and uh again this was a guy who until this past season had never played in a playoff game. uh so he knows how it’s like to kind of go through the grind and be a professional and still, you know, go out and perform and do a good job at it, right? Um so I I think for and especially, right, we we talked earlier this week, we literally talked about how that second line center, which we, you know, assuming is probably going to be Will Smith, needed some more scoring punch there. And I think you got out and you got you got out you you went out and you got one of the best scoring options available to you. Um, I didn’t expect a guy like Skinner to come to San Jose because uh I thought he would probably try to like how we saw with the Oilers last year where he would try to latch on uh and maybe go to a team that is, you know, a little bit closer to to winning and and see if he could play a middle six role for them. But, uh, for him, I I I think maybe makes sense for the Sharks where you can kind of come in help your brand a little bit here, right? Play. You’re going to be playing bottom six minutes um on a you’re going to be playing top six minutes on a a a team that desperately needs top six minutes. And I don’t foresee much competition, to be honest, for beating out um, you know, Jeff Skinner for a role in the top six. Um, and you can, you know, go out and potentially score 20 to 25 goals on a Sharks team. And, you know, maybe you get traded at the trade deadline. And we’ve seen Mike Greer, who, you know, I know he said he wanted to build, but he’s still got a lot of guys on one-year deals with very movable contracts, right? And Jeff Skinner’s got a very movable contract. And um I don’t nothing I’ve seen from Puck Pedia yet um has like if there’s any sort of trade protections or anything like that. I think for Jeff Skinner, right? He probably, if there is any, it’s probably super light because the Sharks will want to him and and the Sharks will probably want to make sure that they send him to a place where he can uh, you know, have a chance to go play playoff meaningful playoff games again and again, help his brand a little bit and help to kind of maybe raise his stock a little bit. Um, and for the Sharks, right, you you’re signing a guy that you could easily foresee flipping at the trade deadline and especially now that the Sharks have their retention slot, one retention slot back after Brent Burns’s contract finally drops off. um you could, you know, retain half of of his contract uh make it a very affordable $1.5 million that a team can easily fit in and get yourself a really nice piece back, especially, you know, if you look at it kind of similar to Anthony Duclair, right? Duclair came in coming off an injury was extremely productive for the Sharks and they turned around and they were able to flip him and get uh Jack Thompson plus a pickback for for him. So I think you could see something very similar for for um Jeff Skinner for for San Jose. You do wonder it does make the road harder for some of the young players. That was something we talked about earlier this week, right? Your Mises, your Sherneshavs, your Quinton Musty’s. Now that’s one more guy you got to kind of jump to earn a role on this roster. Um, and I think a guy like Jeff Skinner, who again, maybe you’re starting to see some decline here. He’s still a professional and he’s still, I think, a good enough goal scored that where you can, you know, I think project 20 to 25 goals. Um, given a a jump in ice time and more power play time. Um, and I I I think it’s it does make it a little bit harder. So, I think now the next thing is is the Misa watch and what the Sharks kind of do with him and see if he’s a guy that you maybe send to college for a year and you know just kind of put that to bed right now of like let’s just let you go play for college for a year. Uh then we will kind of see where you’re at in April which we assume Michael Misa will have a really great season at college. Uh and then hopefully Michael Misa will be playing for the San Jose Sharks uh next year. So, um, but yeah, I do think the road for those guys gets a little bit harder. Maybe not Shernaw because of I think the versatility in his game where he can play kind of anywhere in the lineup and uh we’ve seen him play top six minutes um you know in the OHL and the AHL and we’ve seen him play you know bottom six minutes in the KHL and he’s been very productive no matter the role that he plays. maybe his job isn’t a little bit eiffected as much, but that’s still again one more guy that you have to kind of climb over to make the NHL roster. So, overall though, I think this is a very lowrisk, highreward type of signing for the Sharks because uh if Skinner can get back to his goal scoring ways, and again, I know he only scored uh you know, he only put 16 in last year, that’s still like 16 goals you didn’t have. if he can get back to his 24 that he scored in 23 24 if like in 74 games or you know he had uh 35 in in the 22 23 season and 33 in the 2122 season if he can get back to that type of play um like I think this offense can be much more potent and I know a lot of fans are kind of down on on the Sharks off season. I think this is a really smart signing and I think this is a signing that’s going to work out really well for for the Sharks. So, um because yeah, Jeff Skinner, professional goal scorer. So, um that’s going to be it for me today. Please, Mike, Greer, I it sounds like career is done. Like he said, we’re probably done. I I just want to go hang out at the pool. Um so, thank you guys for making Lockdown Sharks your first listen. Uh again, we’ll be back next week. Uh probably like I said we’ll probably be doing a uh roster reset to see where we are at with the roster now. Um so make sure you’re following along wherever you get podcast and of course you can watch on YouTube as well. Follow the show on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at Lockdown Sharks. Follow me on Twitter and Blue Sky Fryhole. Until Monday, Sunday night. Bye friends.

Jeff Skinner joins the San Jose Sharks on a one-year, $3 million deal. What impact will this veteran forward have on the team’s offensive production?

JD Young breaks down Skinner’s impressive career, including his Calder Trophy win and multiple 30-goal seasons. The analysis covers Skinner’s recent performance with the Edmonton Oilers and how he fits into the Sharks’ lineup. Young explores the potential ripple effects on young prospects like Michael Misa and Will Smith, as well as possible trade scenarios reminiscent of the Anthony Duclair situation.

The host examines Mike Grier’s vision for Skinner as a top-six winger and compares his potential impact to that of Tyler Toffoli. Young also discusses how this signing affects the Sharks’ roster composition and future plans. The episode concludes with an assessment of the deal’s value, projecting Skinner’s goal-scoring potential in San Jose.

Tune in to hear why Young believes this low-risk, high-reward signing could be a game-changer for the Sharks’ offensive firepower.

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