Oilers At Crossroads With Talented Forward

The Edmonton Oilers need to decide about this forward.

EDMONTON -- Being talented is not enough.

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Ask Connor McDavid of the Edmonton Oilers. He has more talent in his left foot than most hockey players have throughout their entire body.

It takes an entire team to pull together to be a champion, and the Oilers strive to be champions this season.

One player who still lacks a defined role and purpose is the summertime acquisition, Jeff Skinner. A six-time 30-goal scorer, Skinner has not consistently contributed his talents to the Oilers roster.

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Even with McDavid out of the lineup, he wasn't allowed significantly more minutes. He did play on a line with Adam Henrique and Zach Hyman. That line has extremely good analytics despite the small sample size.

Skinner is currently on pace for one of his worst offensive seasons and worst season for playing time. 

With 15 points in 42 games, he's on pace to record 29 by the end of the year. In 2020-21, he scored 14 points in 53 games. His next worst performance was 24 points in 42 games during the 2012-13 season.

Skinner is averaging 12:30 minutes per game this season. His next lowest average time on the ice was during the 2020-21 season when he recorded 14:31 minutes per game.

The Oilers need to figure things out with Skinner. At this point, they need to either give him the prominent role he should have or healthy scratch him until he asks for a trade.

The middle ground of being a bottom-six forward doesn't fit his game, and there could be another team in the NHL that can better utilize his talents to help them win.

For now, he will flounder, a square peg slamming himself to fit into a round hole. Unfortunately for this forward, his talent isn't enough, and something needs to give.

Who folds first, the Oilers or Skinner?

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