The Edmonton Oilers coaching staff is continuing to tinker with their lineup, making a move ahead of Tuesday&#8217;s game against the Boston Bruins that could add some depth scoring.

Head coach Kris Knoblauch&#8217;s latest change has seen Jeff Skinner and Adam Henrique slide up the lineup from the fourth to third line to skate alongside Zach Hyman.
Jeff Skinner has struggled to find a consistent spot in the Oilers&#8217; lineup landing in the <a href="https://oilersnation.com/2024/12/23/kris-knoblauch-on-jeff-skinners-playing-time-i-look-at-our-team-and-who-is-he-elevating/">coaching staff&#8217;s dog house</a>. It culminated in a healthy scratch in <a href="https://oilersnation.com/2024/12/29/oilers-healthy-scratch-jeff-skinner-for-sunday-game-against-ducks/">Edmonton&#8217;s December 29th game</a> against the Anaheim Ducks, but in the three games since, has seen some jump in his step. He&#8217;s taken just three shots on goal in those games, but has scored a goal and an assist.
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&#8220;Skinner&#8217;s been playing really well, points in back-t0-back games, scored a really good goal the other night, set up another one the night before,&#8221; Knoblauch said Tuesday from Boston. &#8220;(He&#8217;s) built up some confidence in his game, and that&#8217;s the biggest thing.
&#8220;His work ethic has been what it needs to be. I think he&#8217;s been working hard on the defensive details of our game. But the most important thing to any player, whether your a goalie, defenceman or forward, and especially a goal scorer, is confidence, and you&#8217;re starting to see him enjoying the game, smiling, having fun and feeling better with the puck.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
EDM lines &amp; pairings &#8211; Monday’s practice:
RNH &#8211; McDavid &#8211; Brown Podkolzin &#8211; Draisaitl &#8211; Arvidsson Skinner &#8211; Henrique &#8211; Hyman Perry &#8211; Janmark &#8211; Kapanen Ryan
Ekholm &#8211; Bouchard Nurse &#8211; Stecher Kulak &#8211; Emberson Brown
Skinner Pickard<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Oilers?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Oilers</a>
&mdash; Tony Brar 🚀 (@TonyBrarOTV) <a href="https://twitter.com/TonyBrarOTV/status/1876318278379041130?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 6, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The Oilers&#8217; top six, meanwhile, remains the same, as the fourth line will see Mattias Janmark remain in the centre ice position, despite him taking few faceoffs, with Corey Perry and Kasperi Kapanen on his flanks. Edmonton&#8217;s blue line remains the same, too, with Josh Brown — who was recalled over the weekend — as the seventh defenceman.
With Skinner&#8217;s confidence coming around, Knoblauch said it adds another layer to what the coaching staff can do with their lines.
&#8220;You&#8217;re trying to make the most of the players you have, and I think as time has gone on, your top-six identity and bottom-six identity has changed,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Now, you&#8217;ve got power forwards that are on your top-six who have that role and play a certain style. There&#8217;s a lot of successful teams that have had that.
&#8220;I think of the Washington Capitals and (Jakub) Vrana, who is not your typical fourth-line kind of guy who&#8217;s skilled, and a good player. I can go through many other teams, and right now, we&#8217;ve got players that are like that but I think we&#8217;ve got a lot of good hockey players. The good hockey players are the ones on the ice, they help our team drive possession, drive goal scoring and that&#8217;s what we have.&#8221;
Edmonton visits the Bruins Tuesday night for a 5 p.m. MST puck drop before visiting the Pittsburgh Penguins Thursday, and the Chicago Blackhawks Sunday at the same time.
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Zach Laing is Oilersnation’s associate editor, and senior columnist, and The Nation Network’s news director. He also makes up one-half of the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QX_QCiZyIo&amp;list=PLRSWOpthKmdtmFOKQDd7TQdTU2KSKXYvX">DFO DFS Report</a>. He can be followed on Twitter, currently known as X, at <a href="http://www.x.com/zjlaing">@zjlaing</a>, or reached by email at zach@thenationnetwork.com.
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The Edmonton Oilers coaching staff is continuing to tinker with their lineup, making a move ahead of Tuesday's game against the Boston Bruins that could add some depth scoring.



Head coach Kris Knoblauch's latest change has seen Jeff Skinner and Adam Henrique slide up the lineup from the fourth to third line to skate alongside Zach Hyman.

Jeff Skinner has struggled to find a consistent spot in the Oilers' lineup landing in the <a href="https://oilersnation.com/2024/12/23/kris-knoblauch-on-jeff-skinners-playing-time-i-look-at-our-team-and-who-is-he-elevating/">coaching staff's dog house</a>. It culminated in a healthy scratch in <a href="https://oilersnation.com/2024/12/29/oilers-healthy-scratch-jeff-skinner-for-sunday-game-against-ducks/">Edmonton's December 29th game</a> against the Anaheim Ducks, but in the three games since, has seen some jump in his step. He's taken just three shots on goal in those games, but has scored a goal and an assist.
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"Skinner's been playing really well, points in back-t0-back games, scored a really good goal the other night, set up another one the night before," Knoblauch said Tuesday from Boston. "(He's) built up some confidence in his game, and that's the biggest thing.

"His work ethic has been what it needs to be. I think he's been working hard on the defensive details of our game. But the most important thing to any player, whether your a goalie, defenceman or forward, and especially a goal scorer, is confidence, and you're starting to see him enjoying the game, smiling, having fun and feeling better with the puck."

https://twitter.com/tonybrarotv/status/1876318278379041130?s=46

The Oilers' top six, meanwhile, remains the same, as the fourth line will see Mattias Janmark remain in the centre ice position, despite him taking few faceoffs, with Corey Perry and Kasperi Kapanen on his flanks. Edmonton's blue line remains the same, too, with Josh Brown — who was recalled over the weekend — as the seventh defenceman.

With Skinner's confidence coming around, Knoblauch said it adds another layer to what the coaching staff can do with their lines.

"You're trying to make the most of the players you have, and I think as time has gone on, your top-six identity and bottom-six identity has changed," he said. "Now, you've got power forwards that are on your top-six who have that role and play a certain style. There's a lot of successful teams that have had that.

"I think of the Washington Capitals and (Jakub) Vrana, who is not your typical fourth-line kind of guy who's skilled, and a good player. I can go through many other teams, and right now, we've got players that are like that but I think we've got a lot of good hockey players. The good hockey players are the ones on the ice, they help our team drive possession, drive goal scoring and that's what we have."

Edmonton visits the Bruins Tuesday night for a 5 p.m. MST puck drop before visiting the Pittsburgh Penguins Thursday, and the Chicago Blackhawks Sunday at the same time.

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Zach Laing is Oilersnation’s associate editor, and senior columnist, and The Nation Network’s news director. He also makes up one-half of the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QX_QCiZyIo&amp;list=PLRSWOpthKmdtmFOKQDd7TQdTU2KSKXYvX">DFO DFS Report</a>. He can be followed on Twitter, currently known as X, at <a href="http://www.x.com/zjlaing">@zjlaing</a>, or reached by email at zach@thenationnetwork.com.

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