'Not Sure the History is Well Known': Jeff Skinner Already Familiar With Many Oilers
Jeff Skinner won't have any trouble fitting in the Edmonton Oilers dressing room.
Timothy T. Ludwig-USA TODAY Sports - 'Not Sure the History is Well Known': Jeff Skinner Already Familiar With Many OilersEDMONTON -- Newly acquired Jeff Skinner is going to weather some changes.
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He's coming to the Edmonton Oilers from the Buffalo Sabres. Part of that transition will be on the ice. He used to play with Rasmus Dahlin, Dylan Cozens and Tage Thompson. Now he will play with Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Evan Bouchard and Mattias Ekholm.
The other part of his transition will be off the ice and in the locker room. Lucky for Skinner, he's already familiar with several of the Oilers players.
When speaking to the media in his introductory press conference, he talked about all of the connections to the Oilers that he already has.
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"I think the hockey world is obviously so small, everyone seems to have one degree of separation anyways. I've met Leon and Connor at skates before. Connor Brown - I guess you gotta specify now - I've skated with him before in the summer."
Then Skinner dives into his history with Zach Hyman, "not sure the history is well known, I actually played minor hockey with him (Zach Hyman) when I was eight or nine."
Working in hockey media I often hear "the hockey world is so small." This is one way that phrase plays out.
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It's no surprise that there are pre-existing friendships. When adding to a team, there is a desire to add good humans, not just good players. One of the ways to do that is to speak to people who know the player. So it makes sense that a current Oiler would have a connection to one being acquired.
Regardless of the relationship off the ice, Oilers fans will need to wait till training camp to see how things will take shape on the ice.
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