Canes' Skinner eyes future 40-goal plateau

Canes coach Kirk Miller tells The News & Observer he thinks Jeff Skinner can be a 40-goal man in the NHL.

“I think he can, yeah,” coach Kirk Muller said Saturday. “He’s had a few stretches where he didn’t have production and I think because he’s young that affects guys who score goals. When you’re not scoring, you evaluate your game that way, and I think through maturity you learn that when you don’t score you work to keep the other things in your game. You just keep level-headed.

“When he does that and gets a little more consistent, he has the capability of scoring 40.”

Related: Cole thinks Skinner has 40-goal ability

As for Skinner himself?

“I think as a player you always want to keep improving,” the 21-year-old said. “For me, I’ve scored 30 goals. If you want to be a guy who produces offensively, obviously taking that next step is to be a 40-goal scorer.

“You’re always trying to improve parts of your game and I want to become more all-around and improve all facets of my game. For me, that includes goal-scoring. It would be nice to take that next step, and produce more and help the team win more.”

Source: Chip Alexander, News & Observer