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Confirmed Signing with Link: [BUF] F Peyton Krebs re-signs with the Sabres (2 years, $1.45M AAV)
- Thread starter Koivu11
- Start date
Djp
Registered User
Good deal. I think Sabres believe he is their 4C this year (with 3C upside). IMO, NAK and Laff will compete for 4RW and Laff is the center when there's an injury.
Great. Fine deal. Sabres are still $7M under the cap. We cut skinner and screwed ourselves for 6 years of cap hits because......... ?
... Skinner needed to be off this team. This Ruff coached team needs total buy-in.
MOGlLNY
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You know why Skinner was bought out beyond the money
Fatass
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McLeod 3C and Krebbs 4C. Who are the Sabres 1 and 2 centres? Won’t these two play higher?
Fine. Adams said they had trade offers they just didn't like them. They could have benched him and bought him out next year with less impact. Or you just eat it till your done in 3 years, instead of SIX!!
Fatass
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HaNotsri
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I still think he’s the 13th forward on most nights when healthy this year, but that’ll come with plenty of playing time up and down the lineup. And hopefully he shows enough to earn a spot in the lineup every night or for a 2025 starting role.
But he loves buffalo and the team, and gives it his all. Just needs to develop his game
But he loves buffalo and the team, and gives it his all. Just needs to develop his game
MOGlLNY
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Because he is f***ing awful defensively and was going to be on our third line where he wouldn't contribute offensively either. On a team of "meh" defensive players for Skinner to stand out so badly in his own zone was shocking. It's also honestly debatable if he'd even contribute offensively on the Sabres even in a top 6 role, his skating looked pretty cooked.
He is abysmal on the PP and the Sabres being so bad on it is because of his play style and failing to utilize other players. He may have put up the most points on our PP but a lot of it was because he did it himself to the detriment of everybody else.
His spot in the lineup was valuable to someone who fit the mold of a third liner rather than shoehorning him a role that didn't fit him at 9.5 million.
I'm sure he'll do well in Edmonton for obvious reasons but his time in Buffalo was done.
sabremike
#1 Tageaholic
I don't like the way this was handled ... and I would have done the buy out next year ... but I suspect Ruff wanted him GONE.
There will be 1 or 2 forward ELCs on the roster, every season, for about the next 6 years. It will be OK. Might have to move a highly paid defensemen eventually.
This is a Krebs thread anyhow and this contract shows the Sabres still have confidence in Krebs. I like it.
MOGlLNY
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Show your work and source this. Skinner had control over every single trade due to his NMC.
Fatass
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That’s good centre depth. Maybe the Sabres can have a decent year and sneak into the playoffs?
Mattilaus
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This is also not considering that, if there were offers, those offers could have been for us to give up a 1st round pick to dump Skinner at 50% retention. Would that really have been better than the buy out? People see what they want to see.
That's true. Failure by the GM to not have been able to work with his player on that.
I would rather they eat 3 years of skinner than stretch this contract out for 3 additional years to get nothing.
GrierIsGod123
Registered User
Perfectly said. It was time no matter what. He could not be on this roster taking up a valuable spot any longer. We tried winning with him at the top of our lineup and it just doesn't work consistently, as he gives up just as much as he provides. We have too many young players that are likely already better defensively than Skinner.
His giveaways on the PP were hugely impactful to our possession. By some metrics, he's one of the slowest skaters in the league. The Sabres are trying to become a difficult team to play against and Skinner is the very opposite of that. Plus, they need less low IQ players, which Skinner was the ringleader of. We already have Cozens, Thompson, Tuch and Peterka in our top 6, none of which bring elite hockey sense (thank the lord for Quinn and Benson). I think they got a good look at Benson in the top 6 at the end of the season and thought he might be ready for that 2LW role. We'll see if they were right on that, but I'll never disagree that it was time for Skinner to go.
MarkusKetterer
Shoulda got one game in
GrierIsGod123
Registered User
It basically depends upon Thompson and Cozens bouncing back to form. They don't necessarily need to revert back to 2022 stats (47G/94P & 31G/68P respectively), but do need to find some middle ground. If Thompson can get to 35-40G/75-85 points and Cozens to 25ishG/60ish points, I think the rest of the roster is good enough to keep them in the picture.
They've finally added a legit 3C in McLeod, have a franchise goalie (need him to be solid again) and have enough pieces on defense to form a solid unit, with potential to be elite.
A few other keys (in the form of questions many of us fans have)...
- Where does Bo Byram fit and does he develop into a legit top 4 guy? He showed promise when he first came over but started falling into the "Granato way" before long and became less aggressive as he tried to play his "system".
- Is Owen Power ready to step into becoming a top 20ish guy in the league? He was great during his rookie campaign at tilting the ice in the Sabres favor and showed signs of that last year. Ruff can hopefully take his game to the next level. He's underrated around the league for how good he's been at a young age, especially his very strong possession analytics. He's a play driver who utilizes a strong hockey IQ with lots of small, but impactful plays all over the ice.
- Can Quinn, Peterka and Benson all take a step in their game? Quinn was injured most of last season, but was very impressive when he did play. He has the highest ceiling of these guys. Benson is already a 2-way stud, but can he continue developing into a beast like Marchand? Peterka will get a look on the top line with Thompson and Tuch. Can we become a 30/30 guy?
- Can UPL continue becoming a top 10 goaltender in the league? He was playing at an elite level for much of last year.
- Can the newly formed bottom 6 forward group provide strong defense, some timely scoring and change of momentum abilities? They finally have speed, 2-way ability and some truculence in this group, whereas in year's past it was a hodgepodge of leftovers, tweeners and guys past their prime. I think it finally has an identity.
- Lastly, can Ruff pull it all together? Can the team find some balance between defense/protecting their goalie and having some semblance of scoring prowess? Granato over-adjusted last year and confused his players. They become better defensively, but were far less aggressive and eroded their scoring numbers. It didn't help that some of their players felt the pressure from their large contracts and never got their confidence. Good coaching should help with all of the above. Ruff will be the alpha in this room and carries a lot of respect in the city of Buffalo. I expect the players to respond to that.
zbubble
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- Jul 29, 2005
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There's real-world dollar savings on the buyout. A player only gets 2/3 of what he is owed for the remainder of the contract. Skinner's deal had him left with 22 mil in base salary over the final 3 years (10mil + 7mil + 5mil), so the Sabres will only pay him 14.6mil. If they benched him this year and bought out the last two, they would have paid out 10mil for this year's salary plus 8mil for the two year buyout (2/3 of 12mil), that's 18mil total to push it down another year. And obviously if you just eat it, you're paying him the full 22mil. So, the money being owed to Skinner would have either been 14.6mil (buyout this year) vs. 18mil (buyout next year) vs. 22mil (no buyout). And none of this takes into account that he still would have cost the full 9mil AAV in cap dollars while he would be benched and still on the team, vs. the 22mil spread out over 6 years for the buyout. So in the end, buying him out now still saves more actual dollars and cap dollars.
Uberpecker
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