At the time Buffalo was consider at least a contender—especially after adding Skinner. And realistically, they played like it for a while—didn't they win 10 straight in Nov/Dec?
I think that's revisionist history because of how they started.
At the time of the trade, they were by no means considered contenders or even a playoff team. Maybe a bubble team at best by a few people (but not most) as they weren't going to beat out Boston, TB or Toronto for sure in the Atlantic.
That off-season, they had come off of a 62 point season, just got the 1st OA pick, lost ROR, E. Kane and Lehner. Yes, they added Skinner, Dahlin and a couple of 3rd liners in Sobotka and Berglund, but even AFTER the trade, HF boards poll had them at 25th in the NHL and more importantly, Vegas betting odds had them at 24th with an 80.5 over/under for total points.
Before Skinner went there, they were not seen as a contender and even after he went there, they really weren't. They started off hot but IIRC, it was a lot of 1 goal and OT games and a lot of people predicted they'd come back down to earth. I could be wrong on this last part though, but I seem to recall it and am too lazy to go look.