Jeff Skinner

Jeff Skinner (born Jeffrey Skinner on May 16, 1992) is a Canadian ice hockey player for the Carolina Hurricanes of the National Hockey League (NHL).

Selected seventh overall by the Carolina Hurricanes in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft, he was the youngest player in the NHL during the 2010–11 season and the youngest player ever to play in the NHL All Star Game.

Jeff is also the youngest player in the four major North American sports to ever play in an All-Star game.

He won the Calder Trophy for NHL's "Best Rookie" in the 2010-11 NHL season.

Junior Playing Career
Jeff was drafted 20th overall in the 2008 OHL Draft by the Kitchener Rangers from the Toronto Young Nationals where he played on the wing with future Colorado Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog.

After leading the Rangers in goal scoring in his rookie season, he participated in the 2009 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament, scoring 6 goals for 6 points while winning the gold medal with Team Canada.

In his second OHL season, Jeff scored 50 goals and led all CHL draft-eligible forwards in goal scoring.

He became the first Ranger in 23 years to reach the 50-goal milestone.

Despite leading the league in goals at the time, Central Scouting ranked Jeff as the 47th best North American skater during their midterm rankings, and only 34th during the final rankings.

This contrasted ratings from other organizations such as ISS and TSN's Bob McKenzie who had him much higher.

During the 2010 NHL Entry Draft, Jeff was taken 7th overall by the Carolina Hurricanes.

NHL Career
During Jeff's first NHL training camp, he signed a three-year entry level contract with the Hurricanes on September 21, 2010, worth $2.7 million.

On October 7, 2010, Jeff made his NHL debut with the opening roster in the Hurricanes 4-3 win against the Minnesota Wild during the NHL Premiere Series in Helsinki, Finland. In sixteen minutes of ice time, he had two shots.

The following day, Jeff recorded his first career NHL point with an assist on Tuomo Ruutu's goal.

He also scored the game winning shootout goal to become the 3rd youngest player in NHL history to score a shootout goal.

On October 20, 2010, Jeff scored his first NHL career goal against Jonathan Bernier of the Los Angeles Kings in his fifth game of the season.

Midway through the campaign, he was named to the 2011 All-Star Game roster as an injury replacement for Sidney Crosby which made him the first member of the 2010 draft class to be named to the All-Star Game and the first 18-year old NHL All-Star since Steve Yzerman.

He was later named January 2011's NHL Rookie of the Month.

At the NHL Awards on June 22, 2011 in Las Vegas, Nevada, Jeff was awarded the Calder Trophy as the NHL's top rookie, beating out fellow rookies Logan Couture of the San Jose Sharks and Michael Grabner of the New York Islanders.

He was suspended for 2 games after kicking Scott Nichol of the St. Louis Blues during a game on March 15, 2012

On August 7, 2012, the Carolina Hurricanes extended Jeff's contract to a six-year for about $34.4 million USD.

Awards & Achievements

 * Named to play in the (2011 All-Star Game), youngest All-Star selection ever in the four major North American sports (baseball, basketball, American football, ice hockey) (18 years and 259 days old)
 * Calder Trophy winner as best NHL rookie during the 2010–11 season.
 * Named "Sporting News" Rookie of The Year
 * Named "The Hockey News" Rookie of the Year

Personal Life
Jeff was born to Andrew Skinner and Elisabeth Campin (who are both lawyers).

He is the second-youngest of six siblings with an older brother named Benjamin (who was in the Kitchener Rangers system and now plays for the Golden Hawks at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo) and four sisters: Jennifer (a former Harvard Crimson forward), Andrea (a former Cornell Big Red forward and lawyer at Bay Street law firm Aird & Berlis), Erica (a current Carleton Ravens defence) and Jillian (a student in high school).

He attended William Armstrong Public School and then Markham District High School. Involved in both ice hockey and figure skating growing up, Jeff won a bronze medal in the juvenile division at the 2004 Canadian Junior National Figure Skating Championships.

Soon after, Jeff made the decision to focus solely on hockey, playing minor hockey with the Toronto Jr. Canadians and Toronto Young Nationals of the GTHL and the Markham Waxers of the OMHA.

Growing up, he cheered for the Toronto Maple Leafs.