Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR 550) – Jeff Skinner was the seventh overall selection of the Carolina Hurricanes back in the 2010 NHL Draft.
At the age of 18, Skinner jumped right from the Kitchener Rangers of the Ontario Hockey League to playing as a regular in the NHL. He ended up scoring 31 goals that season, culminating in a Calder Trophy win as the league's Rookie of the Year.
Skinner proceeded to play 579 games for Carolina before being traded to the Sabres in the summer of 2018. In Buffalo, Skinner has played in 420 games, where he has scored 153 goals and 137 assists for 290 points.
Tuesday will mark Skinner's 421st game with the Sabres, which will also be the 1,000th NHL game played in his career.
Skinner seemed humbled by the achievement when asked about it on Monday.
"It’s pretty cool," said Skinner following practice. "I think, for me, it gives you a chance to reflect on everyone that’s helped you to get to this point. There’s going to be a lot of ceremony things going on, but we’ve still got to play the game and focus on the game. But it’s cool to look back and see the support."
Skinner will be 32-years-old in May, which just goes to show his longevity for 14 seasons. He’s scored 40 goals in a season once, and has been a 30-goal scorer six other times. If you take his numbers, he averages 29 goals over 82 games.
He set, what was, his career high for points in his rookie season with 63. He had 63 points three other times until last season when he had 82 points. He only had 30 assists in his career twice until last year when he had 47 assists.
"I didn’t think about it when I first came into the league, but you’ve got to have some good luck, you have to have the opportunity to go out there, and I’ve been fortunate to play well. I’m grateful for that," Skinner said.
If you go back to his draft year in 2010, Skinner has the most goals of any player drafted that year. He has 357 goals, while Tyler Seguin, drafted second overall by the Boston Bruins, has 348.
The No. 1 overall pick in that class was former Sabres winger Taylor Hall, and he is currently ranked fifth with 266 goals. This was also a draft class that included the likes of Vladimir Tarasenko, Brock Nelson, Tyler Toffoli, Zach Hyman and Mark Stone.
There was a time that Skinner had a microphone on for practice and he mentioned what a good show "Emily in Paris" was. The star of the show, Lily Collins, knew about that, because she favored the tweet when the team sent it out. She happened to put together a video on Sunday, congratulating Skinner on his 1,000 games played in the NHL.
"It was really funny, and it’s a good job by our social team, I guess," Skinner said of Collins' message. "But that was pretty cool. I think some people got some good laughs out of it, so that’s good too."
Skinner also did a series last season that was extremely popular called, "Between 2 Stalls." Skinner wrote all his material, and fans loved it.
"I’m not the only guy in here that likes to have fun," he said. "If it puts a smile on someone’s face, then that’s great."
One of his guests on the series last year was teammate Dylan Cozens.
Cozens is from Northern Canada in the Yukon, and Skinner was busting him during that segment about growing up in the North Pole. The 23-year-old says he couldn’t stop laughing while they were filming.
"I wouldn’t say I kept a straight face," he admitted on Monday. "They cut out some bloopers for sure, and that thing he put together was awesome. He wrote it all, and they came up with the idea. It just shows his personality, and how witted he is and how smart he is. But is was tough to keep a straight face, and I didn’t the whole time."
Skinner says the Sabres' social team made that happen, but adds everyone in the locker room likes to have fun in their own way. He adds part of his personality is to enjoy it.
Skinner was over in Europe for his first NHL game back in 2010, and he picked up an assist in a 4-3 win over the Minnesota Wild.
"My first game was in Finland, we were doing the Global Series. It was unique in that way, and there are snippets that you remember from throughout the day, but it’s a good memory. It’s cool to look back on now," Skinner recalled.
Skinner has a corner stall in the locker room, so Cozens is the only player to sit next to him. He says he’s glad he gets the chance to be next to the winger on a regular basis.
"It’s been great. I love sitting next to him. I’m the only guy that sits next to him, so he can only talk to me," Cozens said. "We’ve talk a lot over the last few years, and he’s hilarious. He’s always cracking jokes."
Cozens says it’s inspiring to be around two players who hit their 1,000th game this year, the other player being former team captain Kyle Okposo.
When Skinner is at his best on the ice, he’s getting under the opponent's skin and yapping at them the whole time.
"He’s definitely a competitor, and we love seeing him get fired up and competitive," Cozens said of Skinner. "When he’s giving it to the other team, it’s funny, and he definitely gets under people’s skin. We love to see that. It’s awesome how he can flip a switch from the off ice to the on ice. We love both sides of him."
Meanwhile at Monday's practice, Jordan Greenway was absent, as he was getting some more testing done to get a better picture of his ailment. Lukas Rousek was able to return to the ice with his fellow teammates.
