Jack Skille

Jack Skille (born May 19, 1987) is an American former professional ice hockey right winger. He played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Chicago Blackhawks, Florida Panthers, Columbus Blue Jackets, Colorado Avalanche, and the Vancouver Canucks.

Jack Skille
Skille with the Columbus Blue Jackets in November 2014
Born (1987-05-19) May 19, 1987
Madison, Wisconsin, U.S.
Height 6 ft 1 in (185 cm)
Weight 216 lb (98 kg; 15 st 6 lb)
Position Right wing
Shot Right
Played for Chicago Blackhawks
Florida Panthers
Rosenborg IHK
Columbus Blue Jackets
Colorado Avalanche
Vancouver Canucks
Dinamo Minsk
Genève-Servette HC
Thomas Sabo Ice Tigers
EC Red Bull Salzburg
National team  United States
NHL Draft 7th overall, 2005
Chicago Blackhawks
Playing career 20072021

Playing career

Amateur

Jack Skille scores the game-winning goal against Cornell University.

As a highly regarded forward prospect, Skille was drafted by the Chicago Blackhawks with the seventh overall pick in the 2005 NHL Entry Draft out of USA Hockey's National Team Development Program. Skille was the third in the group of eight American-born players that were selected in the first round, surpassing the previous record of seven Americans selected in the first round in both 1986 and 2003.

In his freshman campaign at the University of Wisconsin–Madison for the Badgers men's ice hockey team, he made an immediate impact, leading all Badger freshmen in scoring with 12 goals and seven assists for 19 points. He also finished the season as the eighth-leading point-scorer for the team. Skille's goal 11:13 into the third overtime propelled the top-seeded Badgers past Cornell University 1–0 on March 26, 2006, in the NCAA Midwest Regional Final at the Resch Center, and into the team's first Frozen Four since 1992.[1]

In his sophomore year, Skille suffered an injury that made him sit out a good portion of the season. After the Badgers failed to qualify for the 2007 NCAA tournament, Skille signed with the Norfolk Admirals, the Chicago Blackhawks' American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate.

Professional

Skille during his tenure with the Blackhawks in November 2010.

After signing with the Blackhawks to a three-year, entry-level contract, Skille was assigned to the team's AHL affiliate, the Rockford IceHogs.

Skille made his NHL debut against the Los Angeles Kings on December 30, 2007. He was brought up from the IceHogs to cover for an injured player, and later scored his first career NHL goal and assist on January 8, 2008, against Cristobal Huet of the Montreal Canadiens. Skille was later selected to represent Rockford at the 2010 AHL All-Star Game.

Prior to signing with the Blackhawks for the 2010–11 season, Skille appeared in 30 games with the Blackhawks over three seasons (2007 to 2010), collecting eight points (five goals and three assists) and five penalty minutes, including two points (one goal and one assist ) in six regular season games with Chicago during the team's 2009–10 Stanley Cup-winning campaign.

During his first full season with the Blackhawks, on February 9, 2011, Skille was traded, along with Hugh Jessiman and David Pacan, to the Florida Panthers in exchange for Michael Frolík and Alexander Salák.[2]

As a result of the 2012–13 NHL lockout, Skille signed with the GET-ligaen side Rosenborg of Norway to play until the end of the lockout. Skille did not receive any wages from Rosenborg, and was the first NHL player to play in the Norwegian league during the lockout.[3]

On July 6, 2013, Skille was signed as a free agent by the Columbus Blue Jackets to a one-year, two-way contract.[4] During a stretch with the Blue Jackets, he scored four goals in seven games played at the time.

On July 1, 2014, Skille was again on the move, signing as a free agent on a one-year, two-way contract with the New York Islanders.[5] However, Skille returned to the Blue Jackets at the beginning of the 2014–15 season, on October 5, 2014, after being claimed off waivers.[6] As a depth forward in his second season with the Blue Jackets, Skille appeared in 45 games scoring 6 goals.

As an unrestricted free agent, Skille left the Blue Jackets for a second successive season, however was unable to secure a contract in the off-season. On September 16, 2015, Skille signed a professional try-out contract to attend the 2015 training camp of the Colorado Avalanche.[7] On October 6, 2015, after impressing in depth position in the pre-season the Avalanche announced they had signed Skille to a one-year, two-way contract.[8] In a fourth line role, Skille remained with the Avalanche for the duration of the 2015–16 season, appearing in 74 games and registering 8 goals for 14 points.

Over the following off-season, Skille agreed to attend the Vancouver Canucks training camp, as a free agent, on a professional try-out basis on September 19, 2016.[9] On October 11, 2016, the Vancouver Canucks announced that Skille had made it into the team's 23-man opening roster.[10] On October 13, 2016, Skille was awarded a one-year, $700,000 contract with the Vancouver Canucks.[11]

Following the 2017–18 season, having opted to play abroad in the Kontinental Hockey League with Belarusian club, HC Dinamo Minsk, Skille returned to North America as a free agent in the summer. Approaching the 2018–19 season, Skille accepted a professional try-out contract to attend the Ottawa Senators training camp on September 12, 2018.[12] He was released from his professional try-out contract on September 23, 2018.[13]

Skille in March 2012 with the Panthers.

On October 1, 2018, Skille signed a one-year contract worth CHF 650,000 with Genève-Servette HC of the National League as a replacement for injured Lance Bouma.[14] Skille played 23 regular season games (10 points) and only appeared in 2 of the team's 6 playoffs games, failing to score a single point. He was not offered a contract extension, becoming a free agent.

International play

Prior to joining the Badgers was a member of the USA Hockey-sponsored National Development Team. He won a gold medal at the 2005 IIHF World U18 Championships in the Czech Republic collecting a goals and three assists in six games at the championship. Skille collected 24 goals, 31 assists and 55 points in 54 games for the U.S. National Under-18 Team during 2004–05 and was whistled for 76 penalty minutes during the season. In international play as a NDTP player, Skille had tournament-best seven points to lead the Americans to first place at the Four Nations Cup in Ann Arbor, Michigan and led tournament with eight points as U.S. team placed first at Five Nations Tournament in Tjörn, Sweden.

He split the 2003–04 season with the U.S. Under-17 Team and U.S. Under-18 Team, playing in 61 games total, posted 25 goals, 19 assists and 44 points to go along with 61 penalty minutes. He also had a goal and an assist to help U.S. Under-18 Team to silver at 2004 IIHF World U18 Championships in Minsk, Belarus. Prior to him joining the US Development Team, Skille led the Verona Area Wildcats to two WIAA State Hockey Tournament appearances. He had a total of 99 points in the two years with Verona Area.

Personal life

Skille is the son of Lee and Carrie Skille. His father Lee skated at Wisconsin in the mid-1970s, served as the head hockey coach at Century High School in Bismarck, ND and head hockey coach and athletic director at Madison West High School.[15] Skille has two sisters, Maggie and Claire. He attended Huron High School in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and Verona Area High School in Verona, Wisconsin.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

Regular season Playoffs
Season Team League GPGAPtsPIM GPGAPtsPIM
2002–03 Verona Area High School HS–WI 282553
2003–04 U.S. NTDP U17 USDP 3314102430
2003–04 U.S. NTDP U18 NAHL 281192031
2004–05 U.S. NTDP U18 NAHL 166111720
2004–05 U.S. NTDP U18 USDP 269112036
2005–06 University of Wisconsin–Madison WCHA 391372035
2006–07 University of Wisconsin–Madison WCHA 268101812
2006–07 Norfolk Admirals AHL 94480 30002
2007–08 Rockford IceHogs AHL 5916183444 122136
2007–08 Chicago Blackhawks NHL 163250
2008–09 Chicago Blackhawks NHL 81015
2008–09 Rockford IceHogs AHL 5820254556
2009–10 Chicago Blackhawks NHL 61120
2009–10 Rockford IceHogs AHL 6323264950 40000
2010–11 Chicago Blackhawks NHL 497101725
2010–11 Florida Panthers NHL 131124
2011–12 Florida Panthers NHL 46461028
2012–13 Rosenborg IHK NOR 9661220
2012–13 Florida Panthers NHL 40391211
2013–14 Springfield Falcons AHL 221311249
2013–14 Columbus Blue Jackets NHL 164046 60110
2014–15 Columbus Blue Jackets NHL 4562816
2015–16 Colorado Avalanche NHL 74861411
2016–17 Vancouver Canucks NHL 5554912
2017–18 Dinamo Minsk KHL 4111142518
2018–19 Genève–Servette HC NL 23551016 20000
2019–20 Thomas Sabo Ice Tigers DEL 1673106
2020–21 EC Red Bull Salzburg ICEHL 251010200 111122
NHL totals 368434184118 60110

International

Medal record
Representing  United States
Ice hockey
World Junior Hockey Championship
Bronze medal – third place 2007 Leksand
Under-18 World Championships
Gold medal – first place 2005 Pilsen
Silver medal – second place 2004 Minsk
Year Team Event Result GP G A Pts PIM
2004 United States U17 4th 5 2 3 5 14
2004 United States WJC18 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 6 1 1 2 4
2005 United States WJC18 1st place, gold medalist(s) 6 1 3 4 8
2006 United States WJC 4th 7 2 0 2 4
2007 United States WJC 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 7 1 5 6 14
2011 United States WC 8th 2 1 0 1 0
Junior totals 26 5 9 14 30
Senior totals 2 1 0 1 0

References

  1. Eidelbes, Mike (2006-03-26). "Fourth on the Line Chart, Number One in Your Hearts". Inside College Hockey. Archived from the original on 2008-01-17. Retrieved 2008-02-01.
  2. "Panthers acquire trio from Chicago". Florida Panthers. 2011-02-09. Archived from the original on 2011-07-14. Retrieved 2011-02-09.
  3. Lillealtern, Randi (11 October 2012). "Jack Skille fra NHL til Rosenborg" (in Norwegian). Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on 14 October 2012. Retrieved 11 October 2012.
  4. "Blue Jackets sign Skille to two-way contract". The Sports Network. 2013-07-06. Archived from the original on 2013-07-09. Retrieved 2013-07-06.
  5. "Islanders sign three to two-way deals". National Hockey League. 2014-07-01. Archived from the original on 2014-07-07. Retrieved 2014-07-01.
  6. "Blue Jackets claim forward Jack Skille off waivers". Columbus Blue Jackets. 2014-10-05. Archived from the original on 2014-10-06. Retrieved 2014-10-05.
  7. "Meszaros, Skille sign professional try-out contracts". Colorado Avalanche. 2015-09-16. Archived from the original on 2015-09-29. Retrieved 2015-09-16.
  8. "Avalanche signs Jack Skille". Colorado Avalanche. 2015-10-06. Archived from the original on 2015-10-07. Retrieved 2015-10-06.
  9. "Skille signed to PTO contract". Vancouver Canucks. 2016-09-19. Archived from the original on 2016-09-20. Retrieved 2016-09-19.
  10. "@JackSkille remains with the #Canucks and will be signed, according to Benning". Vancouver Canucks. 2016-10-11. Archived from the original on 2017-05-31. Retrieved 2016-10-11.
  11. "Canucks Sign Jack Skille to One-Year Contract". NHL.com. October 13, 2013. Archived from the original on June 20, 2018. Retrieved May 27, 2018.
  12. "Senators announce 2018-19 training camp roster". Ottawa Senators. 2018-09-12. Archived from the original on 2018-09-13. Retrieved 2018-09-12.
  13. "Jack Skille: Released from PTO". CBSSports.com. Archived from the original on 2018-09-24. Retrieved 2018-09-24.
  14. "Forward Jack Skille has agreed to terms with Genève-Servette HC". www.swisshockeynews.ch. 2018-10-01. Archived from the original on 2018-10-01. Retrieved 2018-10-01.
  15. "Los Angeles Kings Game Notes" (PDF). NHL.com. Archived from the original on October 19, 2023. Retrieved May 30, 2018. Father Lee skated two seasons at Wisconsin, served as the head hockey coach at Century High School in Bismarck, ND and head hockey coach and athletic director at Madison West High School

Further reading

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