Jeff Skinner has been in the spotlight for most of his life.

When he was 9 years old, the Toronto native landed a small part in the movie "Death to Smoochy," which was directed by Danny DeVito and starred Robin Williams and Edward Norton. Two years later, Skinner won a bronze medal in the 2004 Skate Canada Junior Nationals, a competition featuring Canada's top young figure skaters, including future Olympian Patrick Chan.

On the ice, Skinner was one of the top prospects after he scored 50 goals and had 90 points in 64 games for Kitchener of the Ontario Hockey League, and the Carolina Hurricanes selected him with the No. 7 pick in the 2010 NHL Draft.

As an 18-year-old rookie in 2010-11, Skinner continued to produce, getting 63 points (31 goals, 32 assists) in 82 games to become what was then the youngest winner of the Calder Trophy (Nathan MacKinnon has since become the youngest player to win the award).

Although his goal totals dipped the following two seasons, Skinner rebounded in 2012-14, when he led the Hurricanes with 33 goals. The following season, he became the fourth-youngest player in Carolina history to score 100 goals (22 years old), behind Sylvain Turgeon, Ron Francis and Geoff Sanderson.

In 2016-17, Skinner scored 37 goals and tied his NHL career high with 63 points. But after one more season in Carolina, where he never made the Stanley Cup Playoffs, he was traded to the Buffalo Sabres on Aug. 2, 2018.

Skinner produced during his first season in Buffalo, scoring an NHL career-high 40 goals, but took a step back in 2019-20, getting 23 points (14 goals, nine assists) in 59 games before the season was paused on March 12 due to concerns surrounding the coronavirus.

Skinner had 63 points for the fourth time in the NHL in 2021-22 and scored 35 goals in 2022-23. He played 14:16 and had three shots on goal in his 1,000th NHL game, a 6-2 win for the Sabres against the Washington Capitals at KeyBank Center on April 2, 2024, becoming the first player from the 2010 NHL Draft and the 11th-youngest player (31 years, 322 days) in NHL history to reach the milestone.

Skinner signed a one-year, $3 million contract with the Edmonton Oilers on July 1, 2024. He had 46 points (24 goals, 22 assists) in 74 games in 2023-24 for the Sabres, who bought out the final three seasons of his eight-year, $72 million contract ($9 million average annual value) June 30. He signed one-year, $3 million contract with the San Jose Sharks on July 11, 2025, after making his Stanley Cup Playoff debut with the Oilers.