San Jose Sharks Trade Deadline Target: Jeff Skinner
By Tim Chiasson
The San Jose Sharks need a high skill winger, plain and simple.
The San Jose Sharks are a team that has a tonne of centers, some they choose to play on the wing. What they lack is a true scoring winger and they have plenty of fish to choose from at this years deadline.
Ranked on TSN’s trade board, Jeff Skinner (10th) could satisfy the Sharks needs up front.
Skinner is a player many forget about because of the market he plays in – a story Sharks fans should be well versed in.
The Carolina Hurricanes forward is having a down year offensively, which makes targeting him a great option. His value may never be seemingly lower than it is right now.
Skinner sports a 1.57 P/60 at 5v5 this year, down from his previous two years (2.23 and 2.05). The 25 year old is not likely to remain in such a lull, especially considering the Hurricanes are only shooting 5.98% when he’s on the ice. That’s down from 9.89 and 8.73 the previous two years.
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His individual shot percentage at 5v5 (7.69) is also the second lowest of his eight year career.
His goals for percentage is dreadful this season (37.68), but we can attribute a heavy amount of that to awful goaltending. While he’s on the ice, the Hurricanes goalies – if you can even call them that with this number – save 88.47% of the shots at 5v5. That is beyond putrid.
Here we have a player who is only 25 years old and is capable of being a star winger. He is a positive possession player relative to his team. Only Justin Williams has a better shot attempts per 60 at 5v5 than Skinner on the Hurricanes.
Why is Skinner on the trade block after all of this?
That’s a great question, and I have no idea. The Hurricanes, in whatever state of building they are in, should not trade Jeff Skinner. Doug Wilson should be more than happy to take him of their hands for the right price.
Ron Francis hasn’t made a trade involving a player of Skinner’s quality since he took over in 2014. He’s made a bunch of minor, and safe, trades. It’s because of that there is no real gauge on Francis on this scale.
It’s not like trading with Peter Chiarelli where you pretty much know you won the deal before player names are even mentioned.
Skinner’s salary, $5.725M through next season, is a good one. He’s capable of being a top line winger and those don’t come cheap. Remember, this team is paying Mikkel Boedker $4M and Joel Ward #3.275M.
Given the media status of players like Rick Nash and Max Pacioretty, Skinner might be available for a more reasonable price.
All things considered, this 3x 30-goal scorer is a player that Doug Wilson absolutely needs to consider bringing to California.