The Penguins may be looking to Jim Rutherford’s old team for a change of pace, according to Pierre LeBrun

LA had shown interest in Jeff Skinner but priority for now is Kovalchuk. Told that Pittsburgh and St. Louis have also talked to Carolina about Skinner https://t.co/rE1hDzFhpa

— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) June 21, 2018

Rutherford drafted Jeff Skinner and it appears there is at least a little bit of intrigue in reuniting. Skinner is an offensively gifted player who has had multiple concussions which have cost him some time. However, most years in his career he has played most of the season. He’s played 70 or more games in six of his eight seasons in the NHL. His last five seasons have seen him play in 71, 77, 82, 79, and 82 games. His status as an oft-injured player seems overblown.

It feels like Skinner has been in the league forever, but he is still only 26 years old heading into next season. His cap hit is 5.725M per year, although that contract expires at the end of the season. This would be a quasi-rental situation. Skinner is a UFA and I would expect him to be able to get a raise with his next contract.

To fit into Pittsburgh’s cap situation they would either have to move Phil Kessel or they would have to unload Matt Hunwick and either Conor Sheary or Carl Hagelin.

Here are some comparisons between Skinner and Kessel



They compare favorably in the more readily available statistics we have. When you start to look at some of the microdata compiled from manual tracking you can see that Phil really excels. Skinner’s sample is close to 1,300 minutes while Phil’s is pushing 2,000 so these aren’t meaningless samples



Skinner is a very good player who is a lot younger than Kessel. I don’t like that Skinner is a pending UFA in a league that has a rising cap. Any cost savings seem to be short lived. With Kessel you are playing the guessing game with his aging curve.

Then there is the cost of acquisition to get Skinner. Pittsburgh doesn’t have a lot of great futures to give away so that leaves you taking from the current roster.

Jeff Skinner is an interesting player and it would be even more interesting to see how the Penguins and Hurricanes would make something like that happen.

Thanks for reading!

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