Jeff Jackson's Edmonton Oilers additions aren't panning out like everybody thought
There was a moment over this past offseason when plenty of Edmonton Oilers fans were hoping for Jeff Jackson to become the team’s next GM, but his premier moves haven’t aged too well so far.
He was only in the GM chair for a couple of weeks before hiring Stan Bowman in a more permanent role, but he made sure to make the most of his time while acting in the interim. Jackson’s biggest impact on this team came on the opening day of free agency, where he signed a mind-boggling 13 players.
Most of those players, such as Connor Brown and Mattias Janmark, were returning depth pieces, but some bigger moves garnered praise. Specifically, NHL media and fans alike applauded the onboarding of players such as Viktor Arvidsson and Jeff Skinner, as well as finding a way to retain Adam Henrique.
However, it turns out that all three of those additions have not gone quite as expected three months into the 2024-25 season.
Jeff Skinner
Skinner has, by far, been the most disappointing player of those additions and quite possibly the entire team. The 32-year-old was brought in to be a top-six winger who could help bolster the second line alongside Leon Draisaitl. He was coming off a 24-goal season with the lowly Buffalo Sabres and was just one removed from an 84-point campaign in 2022-23.
The expectation was that he’d join a much better Oilers squad and continue to fill the opposing net alongside Draisaitl. That couldn’t be further from what has transpired. He’s only scored six goals through the first 35 games of the season and now finds himself in Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch’s doghouse after being a healthy scratch over the weekend.
It’s far from ideal for a player Jackson doled out $3 million for.
Viktor Arvidsson
Viktor Arvidsson has been a much better fit with the Oilers than Skinner so far, but the results still leave more to be desired. The Swede has an extensive injury history, and while the hope was that those worries were behind him, Arvidsson missed a month of action with an undisclosed injury.
He has had okay offensive results with four goals and nine points in 21 games, but there were higher expectations of him, especially since he has been a regular top-six forward when healthy this season.
There is still plenty of time to turn this around, and he hasn’t looked bad in Oilers threads. It’s just a bit of a slower start than many initially thought.
Adam Henrique
Not a lot of fans expected the Oilers to be able to retain Henrique after the team acquired him at the 2024 trade deadline. He had a decent enough playoff run in Edmonton that he surely would be scooped up by another team at a higher cap hit, but Jackson was able to pull it off.
He was expected to finally solidify the team’s third-line centre role, and by trading off Ryan McLeod, there was nobody to challenge him for that spot. The results have not been quite as positive as they were last season.
Henrique is an aging player and it’s clear that he is among the slowest of the Oilers forwards. The offence has also dried up considerably, as he only has three goals through 36 games. He’s also had a rough time defensively, having been on the ice for all four goals against in Saturday’s game against the LA Kings.
He’s well-liked in the room, and he does possess a lot of veteran qualities, but he’s been underwhelming.