SAN JOSE – There’s a chance that Jeff Skinner will only be with the San Jose Sharks for a short amount of time after the veteran NHL forward signed a one-year deal with the team last week.
However, it could still be a mutually beneficial relationship.
The Sharks are desperate for offense after finishing last season as the lowest-scoring team in the NHL at 2.54 goals per game. Skinner, with 373 goals in 15 NHL seasons, is eager to show that he can still produce at a high level after a limited opportunity with the Edmonton Oilers resulted in a down year in terms of production.
“I think every player feels that need to prove themselves and prove they can contribute,” said the 33-year-old Skinner, whose one-year deal is worth $3 million. “I’m no exception to that.”
Certainly, Skinner feels he has more to offer than what he was able to show last year.
After he had the final three years of an eight-year, $72 million contract he signed with the Buffalo Sabres bought out by the team in 2024, Skinner sought a chance to join a Stanley Cup contender and dress for playoff games for the first time in his career. Just two days after being jettisoned by the Sabres, Skinner signed a one-year, $3 million deal with the Oilers, who had just come off a seven-game series loss to the Florida Panthers in the Cup final.
But Skinner’s ice time amongst a deep and experienced Oilers forward group dwindled to a career-low 13 minutes per game. A mainstay on the Sabres’ first power play unit, Skinner became more of a secondary option with the Oilers. He was also a healthy scratch a few times in the regular season and dressed for only five of the Oilers’ 22 playoff games.
After scoring 191 points, including 92 goals, in his final 232 games with the Sabres, Skinner played well near the end of the season, but still had just 16 goals and 29 points in 72 regular-season games and two points in five playoff games with the Oilers.
“It’s not always easy to jump into a team that just went on a long run and went to the Stanley Cup Final to find your kind of niche there,” Sharks general manager Mike Grier said of Skinner. “Sometimes you’re in a situation where guys are used to playing with certain players, and they like playing with certain players, so it’s sometimes hard to find your niche, and there’s not a lot of power-play time that goes around either.”
Skinner will likely get more of an opportunity with the Sharks, who were looking to add a top-six forward to their group to help support Macklin Celebrini, Will Smith and William Eklund.
Whether Skinner can stay in the top six and earn a spot on the top power play unit alongside Celebrini and Tyler Toffoli will be determined as the season progresses.
“Coming to a team where they’re giving you some opportunity as a player, I think that’s what you look for,” Skinner said, “and then obviously as the player, you have to take advantage of it.”
Skinner scored 35 goals with the Sabres during the 2022-23 season when he had a 14.5 shooting percentage. That shooting percentage was still 11.1 this past season in Edmonton, but he had only 144 shots.
“Having gone through the season I went through last year, I think in terms of offensive production, it wasn’t up to my standard,” Skinner said. “For sure, I’d like to improve on that production I had last year and try to help the team in any way I can.
“But for me, getting back to the level and standard that I have for myself personally is something I’m looking forward to doing.”
Skinner is one of 10 Sharks players who can become unrestricted free agents next summer. His contract, per PuckPedia, carries a full no-trade clause through Jan. 30, 2026, before it becomes a modified eight-team trade list through the end of the season.
The Sharks hope to be closer to playoff contention this season after finishing in last place each of the previous two years. Still, making the postseason is a long shot, and the possibility exists that Grier will once again be a big seller at the 2026 trade deadline.
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If the Sharks are out of it, and Skinner has a bounce-back year, perhaps the Sharks can get good value in a trade. While Grier doesn’t want to have another large-scale selloff like this past season, how the Sharks play will influence his decisions, and Skinner, who has scored at least 31 goals six times in his career, could be a sought-after player if he has a bounce-back year.
“The hope is not to have a fire sale again,” Grier said. “I think these players that were all brought in were brought in to help our group grow and to make us a better team. They weren’t targeted with the idea that we’re just going to flip them at the deadline.
“Obviously, we’ll see how the season goes, and if there’s an offer that comes in that makes sense and we’re not anywhere near the playoffs, it’s definitely something I’ll have to think about then. But these players were bought in with the idea that they’re going to help us grow and be here with us throughout the season.”
THOMPSON SIGNS
The Sharks re-signed defenseman Jack Thompson, a restricted free agent who split the 2024-25 season between the NHL and the Barracuda of the AHL, to a one-year, two-way contract worth $800,000 at the NHL level. Thompson, 23, had 10 points in 31 NHL games with the Sharks and 14 points in 27 games with the Barracuda.
Forward Danil Gushchin remains the Sharks’ only unsigned restricted free agent.