Jack Skille

Jack Skille

Skille in 2014.
Born (1987-05-19) May 19, 1987
Madison, WI, USA
Height 6 ft 1 in (185 cm)
Weight 198 lb (90 kg; 14 st 2 lb)
Position Right Wing
Shoots Right
NHL team
Former teams
Vancouver Canucks
Chicago Blackhawks
Florida Panthers
Columbus Blue Jackets
Colorado Avalanche
National team  United States
NHL Draft 7th overall, 2005
Chicago Blackhawks
Playing career 2007present

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

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 Anaheim Ducks' American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate.

Professional

Skille during his tenure with the Blackhawks.

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 Avalache 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.

International play

Medal record
Representing  United States
Men's ice hockey
World Junior Hockey Championship
2007 Leksand
Under-18 World Championships
2005 Pilsen
2004 Minsk

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. 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. 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

Skille in 2012 with the Panthers.

Regular season and playoffs

Regular season Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
2003–04 US NTDP NAHL 28 11 9 20 31
2004–05 US NTDP NAHL 16 6 11 17 20
2005–06 University of Wisconsin–Madison WCHA 39 13 7 20 35
2006–07 University of Wisconsin–Madison WCHA 26 8 10 18 12
2006–07 Norfolk Admirals AHL 9 4 4 8 0 3 0 0 0 2
2007–08 Rockford IceHogs AHL 59 16 18 34 44 12 2 1 3 6
2007–08 Chicago Blackhawks NHL 16 3 2 5 0
2008–09 Chicago Blackhawks NHL 8 1 0 1 5
2008–09 Rockford IceHogs AHL 58 20 25 45 56
2009–10 Chicago Blackhawks NHL 6 1 1 2 0
2009–10 Rockford IceHogs AHL 63 23 26 49 50 4 0 0 0 0
2010–11 Chicago Blackhawks NHL 49 7 10 17 25
2010–11 Florida Panthers NHL 13 1 1 2 4
2011–12 Florida Panthers NHL 46 4 6 10 28
2012–13 Rosenborg IHK GET 9 6 6 12 20
2012–13 Florida Panthers NHL 40 3 9 12 11
2013–14 Springfield Falcons AHL 22 13 11 24 9
2013–14 Columbus Blue Jackets NHL 16 4 0 4 6 6 0 1 1 0
2014–15 Columbus Blue Jackets NHL 45 6 2 8 16
2015–16 Colorado Avalanche NHL 74 8 6 14 11
NHL totals 313 38 37 75 106 6 0 1 1 0

International

Year Team Event Result GP G A Pts PIM
2004 United States U18 2nd, silver medalist(s) 6 1 1 2 4
2005 United States U18 1st, gold medalist(s) 6 1 3 4 8
2006 United States WJC 4th 7 2 0 2 4
2007 United States WJC 3rd, 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 2008-02-01. Retrieved 2008-02-01.
  2. "Panthers acquire trio from Chicago". Florida Panthers. 2011-02-09. 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 11 October 2012. Retrieved 11 October 2012.
  4. "Blue Jackets sign Skille to two-way contract". The Sports Network. 2013-07-06. Retrieved 2013-07-06.
  5. "Islanders sign three to two-way deals". National Hockey League. 2014-07-01. Retrieved 2014-07-01.
  6. "Blue Jackets claim forward Jack Skille off waivers". Columbus Blue Jackets. 2014-10-05. Retrieved 2014-10-05.
  7. "Meszaros, Skille sign professional try-out contracts". Colorado Avalanche. 2015-09-16. Retrieved 2015-09-16.
  8. "Avalanche signs Jack Skille". Colorado Avalanche. 2015-10-06. Retrieved 2015-10-06.
  9. "Skille signed to PTO contract". Vancouver Canucks. 2016-09-19. Retrieved 2016-09-19.
  10. "@JackSkille remains with the #Canucks and will be signed, according to Benning.". Vancouver Canucks. 2016-10-11. Retrieved 2016-10-11.

Further reading

Awards and achievements
Preceded by
Cam Barker
Chicago Blackhawks first round draft pick
2005
Succeeded by
Jonathan Toews
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