Confirmed Buy-Out [BUF] Sabres buy out F Jeff Skinner

[Pablo El Perro]

He'll be a good pickup as a cheap utility scorer for a playoff team.

 

[Zman5778]

He is that bad, eh?

Some Sabres fans are overstating things.

He's good for 20 G and 30-40 A per year. However, those points come with caveats:
-For every PP point he gets, he's likely to kill twice as many opportunities with stupid decisions
-For every 5v5 point he gets, he's likely to be the root cause for twice as many chances against

He's apparently a great, jovial guy in the locker room. Even if he's not fast, he's quick. His hands in the immediate area around the net are insanely good.

If your team plays a free-wheeling, high-event style....he'll fit right in. If your team demands defensive responsibility......yeah, he doesn't do that.

 

[Voight]

It's already live on Capfriendly. Wow!

View attachment 889631

Enjoy it while it lasts, cause in a. week CF is gone forever

 

[TheDawnOfANewTage]

f*** it, I need a new team.

 

[Chaos2k7]

Anyone who said said that is a dummy. Eichel has never been a bad defensive player or lazy. Eichel isn't what he was projected to be and many buffalo fans are butthurt about him but he is a good player.

They said it about Reinhart too. Where is that Buffalo News quote? @HFPanthers

 

[KrisLetAngry]

I can see Toronto being a front runner. Can sign cheap and go anywhere

 

[BM14]

Enjoy it while it lasts, cause in a. week CF is gone forever

Wait, what??

 

[Ralonzo]

Parting ways with Skinner isn’t about the cap space his contract takes. It’s about who he is as a player and how that fits into the team now.

Very much this, it's likely Ruff is going to put more focus on playing a puck possession system. If that's the case Skinner will kill the system because possessions die on his stick. To the opponent, to the crowd, to the goalie's crest, and about 0.1% of the time to the net. It's like the Most Interesting Man meme, "I don't always pass but when I do it's through three defenders across the slot and will be an odd man break the other way if one of them reads it, which they usually do"

Basically, he's a volume shooter who plays the game the opposite of the right way. If they're buying him out before he teaches Quinn to play that way, it's worth every penny.

I still think they should have waited until next summer, but I'll reserve judgment until I see what else Adams has planned.

There's a plan?

 

[Chaos2k7]

 

[NVious]

Fun Rare Fact about Skinner:

He used to be a figure skater growing up (not sure if any of you guys knew that).

 

[BFLO]

Phil Kessel had worse said about him.

Jeff skinner is actually the player Toronto media falsely accused Phil Kessel of being.

 

[threeVo]

Such a Buffalo move to sign a guy with a career high of 63 points, suffer through him having a 14 and 23 point season, and then buy him out after he’s bounced back and averaged 63 points over the last 3 years.

the 14 and 23 point seasons were due to gross negligence by the coach. The guy scores goals, esp at ES. They simply need the top 6 role for Quinn, JJP, and other players they are building around. Skinner is top 6 or in the pressbox

 

[Djp]

Anyone who said said that is a dummy. Eichel has never been a bad defensive player or lazy. Eichel isn't what he was projected to be and many buffalo fans are butthurt about him but he is a good player.

Eichel is a very good player but he is toxic in the locker toom.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

You are correct it was a two, three, and six… And Cliff Pu - was just being lazy writing out as the 2 was the major piece. That’s still not a lot for a former Calder trophy winner who had scored 40 goals in the past.

1. He had never scored 40 before the trade. That came after the trade.
2. He was coming off a 24G,49p season.
3. He had 1 year left so essentially an extended rental.
4. He had a NMC and would only go to a few teams.

You aren’t getting a great return for that.

But I will say, I contradict a couple points… The prices is the price, who is drafted with those draft picks is irrelevant to what the cost was. It’s great for Carolina that they use them wisely, but I could just it easily then argue somebody who got traded for a fifth round draft pick that ended up being Ryan Miller and an all-time goalie for the Sabres… that somehow that fifth round draft is worth more than just a fifth round draft pick. For Buffalo ended up being that but it was just a fifth round draft pick wisely.

Agree, but a typical rental price for a guy like Skinner is a late 1st and so-so prospect. An early 2nd, a 3rd, a 6th and a meh prospect is not far off from that, particularly with the NMC.

Also, the reason why the canes did not want to sign into a UFA contract is the same reason why Buffalo is buying him out. One dimensional player that can only fit in your lineup basically in one or maximum two spots that needs to be covered up by his linemates… Even if he scores a bunch of goals that’s not worth seven or $8 million… Let alone nine. Thus why Carolina traded instead of resigning.

That’s only part of it. Canes rarely sign guys in their late 20s like that to long term deals. Skinner, Faulk, Hamilton, Trocheck, and now likely Pesce. Just not how they operate unless it’s a core guy, which Skinner clearly wasn’t. Of course his lack of 2 way game was a piece of it as well, no argument there. Rod clearly wanted him gone.

Like I said, I actually really like a person and the goals that got scored. Have zero negative memories of him or animosity. But there’s no way I think he is helping the Sabres win next year or be harder to play against … And they had to move on from him if they want to do so.

I’m with you on all that. I think he’s bad defensively and not worth the money. Not arguing that at all, just adding appropriate context regarding the trade from Carolina.

 

[Voight]

Wait, what??

Cap Friendly was bought by the owner of the Capitals, the site is going dark in a week or so.

 

[BHD]

I suppose whoever signs him is winning the Cup.

 

[The Hockey Tonk Man]

Zito gonna pick him up on a 1 year show me deal unless he can sign Tarasenko

Reunite him with Maurice. Couldnwork

Skinner seems to be a hot one year, dud the other.

Buyout looks pretty bad in years 2/3 for the Sabres.
Should have never signed him to that brutal deal.

 

[jetsforever]

So now he'll sign with a playoff team right? (and somehow cause them to implode while Buffalo finally makes the playoffs)

 

[Panthaz89]

Anyone who said said that is a dummy. Eichel has never been a bad defensive player or lazy. Eichel isn't what he was projected to be and many buffalo fans are butthurt about him but he is a good player.

Eichel was only lazy and pouty when he was 18, 19 where he would lament so much after missing that he wouldn't backcheck.

 

[Iwishihadaspacebar]

Would do good in Toronto, but would also be perplexing as they don’t need more forwards

The thing is, they sort of do, well at least ones who will chip in with a goal or two. Their bottom 6 for 7 games in the playoffs was

Robertson, Holmberg, Jarnkrok,
Reaves, Kampf, Dewar

That doesn't look great on paper and it was even worse in reality, with a total of 1 goal between them in 7 games.

 

[Cancuks]

The Oilers might be a fit.

 

[paulmm3]

Sabres had too many forwards who are offensive only players. 5th in the league in goals for 2 years ago and didn't make the playoffs. Tried to emphasize more defense last year and that didn't work either. A forward group like the Sabres had just isn't competitive, and Skinner was the oldest, most expensive, most losing a step of all the offense-only forwards. Hence the buy out

 

[TheDawnOfANewTage]

Would do good in Toronto, but would also be perplexing as they don’t need more forwards

I’m 75% certain he’s gonna sign there for very little money and will absolutely light it up. Just my own cynicism/optimism, but I feel like he’s the perfect complementary scorer for that core. Defense wasn’t really their problem from what I saw, it was relying on 4 mercurial guys for all the offense. Add in one more shooting option for Marner, for instance, and I think interesting things could result. They aren’t gonna change the structure of their squad at this point, they could keep trying to re-tool the bottom 6 hoping for magic, but imo Skinner makes their top 6 more dynamic. Unique player that clicks with certain talents, Toronto has the talent.

Anywho, if Buffalo comes within 9 million of the cap at any point maybe this starts to make sense to me. Until then I’m not convinced Pegula didn’t hoodwink us all.

 

[Jersey Fan 12]

Is he a younger Mike Hoffman or does he put up Sam Reinhart numbers somewhere else this season?

 

[Dubi Doo]

Such a Buffalo move to sign a guy with a career high of 63 points, suffer through him having a 14 and 23 point season, and then buy him out after he’s bounced back and averaged 63 points over the last 3 years.

You should have seen him the last 1/2 of the season. There a lot of posters who are wildly ignorant in their opinion right now.