SAN JOSE – The San Jose Sharks placed veteran forward Jeff Skinner on unconditional waivers for the purpose of mutual contract termination on Monday, a source confirmed, with the two sides agreeing to part ways less than three weeks before the NHL trade deadline.
If Skinner is not claimed by another NHL team by Tuesday, he will become an unrestricted free agent able to sign with any club. Skinner would have to be on another team’s roster by the March 6 trade deadline to be eligible to participate in the playoffs.
The Sharks signed Skinner, 33, to a one-year, $3 million contract in July, hoping he could become a top-six forward with the team and rekindle some of the scoring touch he had earlier in his lengthy career.
However, Skinner managed just four goals and seven points in his first 26 games with the Sharks, as he missed 10 games from mid-November to early December with a lower-body injury. With other players establishing themselves in the lineup in recent weeks or returning from injury, Skinner had been a healthy scratch each of the Sharks’ last 10 games before their Olympic break began on Feb. 5.
Skinner had 13 points in 32 games with the Sharks this season, averaging 12:21 in ice time. Drafted seventh overall in 2010, Skinner, now in his 16th NHL season, has 712 points in 1,110 career NHL games.
Asked late last month if he had requested a trade, Skinner said, “I’m aware of the roster situation. I’m aware of the amount of young guys here, and sort of where I fit, obviously, in the big picture.
“I’m not in control of that. I just come to practice and practice. Things go on like that, it’s between managers or agents. As a player, I just worry about playing or practicing.”
Skinner still believes he can be a productive NHL player. Before his long string of healthy scratches, Skinner, from Dec. 31 to Jan. 11, had two goals and four assists in six games, with both goals and one assist coming on the power play.
“I think the last few games I played, I feel like I was contributing positively to the team,” Skinner said on Jan. 25, “and that was, I don’t know, two weeks ago? I don’t think I forgot how to play. I’m pretty confident in myself to be able to contribute at this level.”
By parting ways with Skinner, the Sharks will have 22 players on their active roster and 48 NHL contracts on their books, two fewer than the maximum.
The Sharks currently have two players on injured reserve: forwards Ryan Reaves and Ty Dellandrea. Reaves was placed on IR on Feb. 3 with an upper-body ailment and was considered more day-to-day at that time, while Dellandrea, out since early January with a lower-body injury, was considered more week-to-week.
The Sharks resume practice later this week and play their first game after the Olympic break on Feb. 26 against the Calgary Flames, starting a six-game homestand. San Jose (27-24-4) has lost four straight games and entered the break in 11th place in the Western Conference, five points out of a playoff spot.
Four Sharks players, centers Macklin Celebrini (Canada) and Alex Wennberg (Sweden), and forwards Philipp Kurashev (Switzerland) and Pavol Regenda (Slovakia), are still taking part in the Olympics in Milan Cortina. Sweden and Switzerland are in Tuesday’s qualification playoffs, and Canada and Slovakia received byes to Wednesday’s quarterfinals after winning their respective groups. Celebrini is tied for second among all scorers with six points in three games.