Confirmed with Link: Jeff Skinner -- Bought Out 6/29/24

[Sound_n_Fury]

Shannon hates on them with regularity.

Just playing to the Toronto fan base. TV/ Radio/ Internet talking head are all the same--how can I attract the most eyeballs / ears by playing what the choir wants to hear.

 

[Buffaloed]

I already have Skinner penciled in for 50 goals next season. Eichel will be more developed. Same with Reinhart, Dahlin, etc.. I think Skinner's high shooting percentage was mostly due to playing with a center who gave him higher quality scoring opportunities. It wasn't a fluke. Put together a 2nd scoring line and the skies the limit. Maybe Reinhart can be the Hawerchuk to Eichel's Lafontaine.

 

[GOALOFSSON]

I already have Skinner penciled in for 50 goals next season. Eichel will be more developed. Same with Reinhart, Dahlin, etc.. I think Skinner's high shooting percentage was mostly due to playing with a center who gave him higher quality scoring opportunities. It wasn't a fluke. Put together a 2nd scoring line and the skies the limit. Maybe Reinhart can be the Hawerchuk to Eichel's Lafontaine.

The high shooting% was never a good argument against skinner in the first place. If he's mostly playing with Eichel, and I assume he will be, I cant really see him getting less than 37 as a low end. At least for the first 3-4 years.

 

[Baccus]

The high shooting% was never a good argument against skinner in the first place. If he's mostly playing with Eichel, and I assume he will be, I cant really see him getting less than 37 as a low end. At least for the first 3-4 years.

Love the absolute specific numbers. Kudos to you.

I'm going to go out on a limb, and suggest that his year to year goal scoring will have a variance directly tied to his year to year shooting percentage.

 

[GOALOFSSON]

Love the absolute specific numbers. Kudos to you.

I'm going to go out on a limb, and suggest that his year to year goal scoring will have a variance directly tied to his year to year shooting percentage.

Ok?

 

[Tatre]

Boys, you stop whatever it is you're doing right this minute!

 

[old kummelweck]

Skinner was getting criticized by some pundits because he has so few assist. Do you think he'd have more assists with another shooter on the right wing instead of a playmaker like Reinhart?

 

[BananaSquad]

That Shannon take is why Hockey is basically non existent in most places. God this sport is dieing fast.

 

[VaporTrail]

I already have Skinner penciled in for 50 goals next season. Eichel will be more developed. Same with Reinhart, Dahlin, etc.. I think Skinner's high shooting percentage was mostly due to playing with a center who gave him higher quality scoring opportunities. It wasn't a fluke. Put together a 2nd scoring line and the skies the limit. Maybe Reinhart can be the Hawerchuk to Eichel's Lafontaine.

What flavor Kool Aid are you drinking ? lol...Come on man, Dale Hawerchuk ? Reinhart isn't even in the same league as Hawerchuk..Hawerchuk is one of the league's all-time greats....A more realistic possiblity would be Botts acquiring a true #2 C for us and Reinhart playing wing on that second line...Or do I even suggest, gasp, Reinhart the #3 C on a very deep Sabres team !? Now, I'm drinking the Kool Aid !!

 

[AustonsNostrils]

That Shannon take is why Hockey is basically non existent in most places. God this sport is dieing fast.

The sport isn't dying at all and the reason it's non-existent in most places is that it's a winter sport that requires major investment, either public or private, to build and maintain indoor rinks. The NHL is the 5th largest sports league in the world by revenue. Not too shabby for a regional sport.

 

[Paxon]

That Shannon take is why Hockey is basically non existent in most places. God this sport is dieing fast.

Every sport is riddled with pundits like him

 

[AustonsNostrils]

Lol! You mean we're supposed to be impressed by his vast hockey knowledge: Christian Candeloro

Poor kid. Maybe he should just continue to look for a job in spot management...

'I am a senior studying spot management at North Carolina State University who will be graduating in May of 2017.'

I wish him luck in the challenging field of dry cleaning.

 

[BowieSabresFan]

'I am a senior studying spot management at North Carolina State University who will be graduating in May of 2017.'

I wish him luck in the challenging field of dry cleaning.

Just be gentle on the school. It’s a good one, and I did my undergrad work there. Just not in spot management.

 

[Brownies]

Glad for the Sabres they didn’t have to take another step back. It’s better to have Skinner paid 1M too much and cut that million elsewhere than try to replace his production.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

I already have Skinner penciled in for 50 goals next season. Eichel will be more developed. Same with Reinhart, Dahlin, etc.. I think Skinner's high shooting percentage was mostly due to playing with a center who gave him higher quality scoring opportunities. It wasn't a fluke.

His high shooting % wasn't really an outlier. He shot 14.9% and even though is career average is 11.2%, he's shot 14.4% and 13.2% in prior seasons. Unless they can figure out the PP, it's a tall task for Skinner hitting 50. And by they, I mean both the Sabres and Skinner.

In the past 5 seasons, here are the top ES goal scorers in the NHL:
Tavares: 37
Kane and McDavid: 35
Ovi and Guentzel: 33
Ovi, Nash, Skinner, Matthews: 32
Skinner also had 30 ES goals in 16/17

Skinner averages only 6-7 PPG / 82 games and his best ever season is 11. Unless he can up his PP goals to the 15-20 range, scoring 50 is going be very difficult. Maybe with an improved Dahlin running the PP, there will be an overall increase.

A couple of questions:
1) How did Buffalo use him on the PP? I seem to recall some of the games I watched he was more of a down low, net front guy?
2) Does anyone know anything about how Krueger will run a PP? I realize it's probably hard to gauge given he's only coached 48 games in the NHL, but was wondering if there was any info on this.
3) I know Smith is still there, but did the Sabres keep the assistants in charge of forwards/special teams?

 

[old kummelweck]

His high shooting % wasn't really an outlier. He shot 14.9% and even though is career average is 11.2%, he's shot 14.4% and 13.2% in prior seasons. Unless they can figure out the PP, it's a tall task for Skinner hitting 50. And by they, I mean both the Sabres and Skinner.

In the past 5 seasons, here are the top ES goal scorers in the NHL:
Tavares: 37
Kane and McDavid: 35
Ovi and Guentzel: 33
Ovi, Nash, Skinner, Matthews: 32
Skinner also had 30 ES goals in 16/17

Skinner averages only 6-7 PPG / 82 games and his best ever season is 11. Unless he can up his PP goals to the 15-20 range, scoring 50 is going be very difficult. Maybe with an improved Dahlin running the PP, there will be an overall increase.

A couple of questions:
1) How did Buffalo use him on the PP? I seem to recall some of the games I watched he was more of a down low, net front guy?
2) Does anyone know anything about how Krueger will run a PP? I realize it's probably hard to gauge given he's only coached 48 games in the NHL, but was wondering if there was any info on this.
3) I know Smith is still there, but did the Sabres keep the assistants in charge of forwards/special teams?

With Dahlin, Eichel, and Reinhart on this team, there is absolutely no excuse for a sub top-10 PP. This is exactly where I would expect Skinner to close that gap between 30 something and near 50, provided he doesn't lose his spot on the top unit to Olofsson.

 

[Jim Bob]

Skinner was getting criticized by some pundits because he has so few assist. Do you think he'd have more assists with another shooter on the right wing instead of a playmaker like Reinhart?

I don't believe that is likely since this has been who he is as player since midget hockey.

Jeff Skinner at eliteprospects.com

In the NHL, he has more goals than assists.

In the OHL, he had more goals than assists.

In his minor midget season, he had more goals than assists.

 

[Jim Bob]

With Dahlin, Eichel, and Reinhart on this team, there is absolutely no excuse for a sub top-10 PP. This is exactly where I would expect Skinner to close that gap between 30 something and near 50, provided he doesn't lose his spot on the top unit to Olofsson.

I wouldn't expect Skinner and Olofsson to really compete for the same spot on the PP.

Skinner played in that middle spot of the 1-3-1 PP formation.

I think that Olofsson is the person that will get Okposo off the ice on 1PP as that RHW player.

Hopefully, we see this kind of structure on 1PP this season:

.................Reinhart NFP
Eichel LHW........Skinner Slot........Olofsson RHW
...............Dahlin Point

 

[Chainshot]

Just be gentle on the school. It’s a good one, and I did my undergrad work there. Just not in spot management.

Spot management? What if my dog is not named spot?

 

[Buffaloed]

What flavor Kool Aid are you drinking ? lol...Come on man, Dale Hawerchuk ? Reinhart isn't even in the same league as Hawerchuk..Hawerchuk is one of the league's all-time greats....A more realistic possiblity would be Botts acquiring a true #2 C for us and Reinhart playing wing on that second line...Or do I even suggest, gasp, Reinhart the #3 C on a very deep Sabres team !? Now, I'm drinking the Kool Aid !!

I'm referring to the Hawerchuk who played for the Sabres. His best years were with the Jets. He averaged 1.12 ppg in Buffalo 0r 92 points per season. Factor in the decline in NHL scoring over the last 20 years and and 80 point Reinhart is comparable.

 

[haseoke39]

It's not like this was a bad decision to make in June, 2019. It's that it never should have gotten to this point. And for fans living moment to moment, I get how this feels like a win.

But if Jeff Skinner was demanding $9M (or more, likely) before the TDL, he should have moved for a package including a mid-first rounder and another high pick or prospect. A 50 goal pace at the time should've bought that.

What the Sabres are becoming is a team that is going to spend to the cap just to maintain a bottom 5 roster. They have $20M in space for 7 roster spots. They will get to ~$80-83M with just resignings and a low-level FA or two. They have two of the top 16 cap hits in hockey. They will probably have to add a third for Dahlin. Reinhart may be a cap casualty when his deal comes around, if he rightly points out that he put up more points than Skinner and was a better 200' player.

Great teams maintain some level of financial balance across the roster. That's how they can afford to maintain depth. They can do that because they know how to draft and develop, so they have a pipeline, and they can afford to walk away from a bad contract, and use their foresight to recoup what they can from the player before it gets to that. Sell high, get two high picks for Skinner, move them for a cheaper guy with upside down the line.

It's not that this was a bad deal on the day it happened. But it just shows that the franchise is weak enough where it counts that they have to make hard concessions just to keep from regressing. They can't really afford to develop a roadmap forward. Basically the hope for this team climbing out of the basement comes down to Krueger and Dahlin right now, and I'm skeptical that we'll be seeing a playoff game in Buffalo anytime in the next few years.

 

[Der Jaeger]

His high shooting % wasn't really an outlier. He shot 14.9% and even though is career average is 11.2%, he's shot 14.4% and 13.2% in prior seasons. Unless they can figure out the PP, it's a tall task for Skinner hitting 50. And by they, I mean both the Sabres and Skinner.

In the past 5 seasons, here are the top ES goal scorers in the NHL:
Tavares: 37
Kane and McDavid: 35
Ovi and Guentzel: 33
Ovi, Nash, Skinner, Matthews: 32
Skinner also had 30 ES goals in 16/17

Skinner averages only 6-7 PPG / 82 games and his best ever season is 11. Unless he can up his PP goals to the 15-20 range, scoring 50 is going be very difficult. Maybe with an improved Dahlin running the PP, there will be an overall increase.

A couple of questions:
1) How did Buffalo use him on the PP? I seem to recall some of the games I watched he was more of a down low, net front guy?
2) Does anyone know anything about how Krueger will run a PP? I realize it's probably hard to gauge given he's only coached 48 games in the NHL, but was wondering if there was any info on this.
3) I know Smith is still there, but did the Sabres keep the assistants in charge of forwards/special teams?

Skinner played in the high slot on the PP.

Not really sure but Krueger ran a good PP in Edmonton. Buffalo still has 4 of the 5 players from the first unit of the #1 PP from two years ago, so the players are there.

I think all the assistants are still in place. Krueger hasn't made any moves yet.

 

[Chainshot]

I do hope that Capfriendly does more with percentage of total cap in their charts going forward. It seems like a no-brainer given the faux outrage about signings that then are easily cataloged by % of cap relative to goal production. Anyway....

Skinner played in the high slot on the PP.

Not really sure but Krueger ran a good PP in Edmonton. Buffalo still has 4 of the 5 players from the first unit of the #1 PP from two years ago, so the players are there.

I think all the assistants are still in place. Krueger hasn't made any moves yet.

Smith is the only retained assistant. All the others were told they could seek other employment. If they return, I would be surprised.

I'm hoping they find a way to work Dahlin and Eichel as their entry guys and then use Reinhart as the low hub. That leaves Skinner as the bump and a need for someone on the right half-wall who is not Kyle Okposo. It could be Mitts, it could be Olofsson (my preference since we know he can finesse goals in from there as well as use the crease option or the slot option as a playmaker), or it could be some as-yet unknown player.

 

[Der Jaeger]

I do hope that Capfriendly does more with percentage of total cap in their charts going forward. It seems like a no-brainer given the faux outrage about signings that then are easily cataloged by % of cap relative to goal production. Anyway....



Smith is the only retained assistant. All the others were told they could seek other employment. If they return, I would be surprised.

I'm hoping they find a way to work Dahlin and Eichel as their entry guys and then use Reinhart as the low hub. That leaves Skinner as the bump and a need for someone on the right half-wall who is not Kyle Okposo. It could be Mitts, it could be Olofsson (my preference since we know he can finesse goals in from there as well as use the crease option or the slot option as a playmaker), or it could be some as-yet unknown player.

Thanks.... didn't know that. I knew they weren't fired but didn't know that.

The #1 PP from two years ago had Eichel as the shooter and O'Reilly as the QB along the right half wall. As much as we'd all like to as Olofsson at the right half wall, I think that needs to be Mittelstadt. Put Dahlin at the point and let those two monkey around with the puck, then use Eichel along the back side. Reinhart can pop out low. Skinner in the high slot.

It's identical to the Caps powerplay.

PP2 can have Ristolainen (if he's still around) or Montour at the point, Olofsson on the right half wall, and then build the rest from whoever the team acquires.

 

[26CornerBlitz]

6-12: Jeff Skinner with Howard and Jeremy on WGR (11:12)

#Sabres forward Jeff Skinner (@JeffSkinner) joins Howard and Jeremy next on the @WestHerr hotline on WGR! Tune in:

Skinner - When you go through the whole process of contract negotiations, you weigh all options, but everything was positive. I'm happy with the way everything ended up. #Sabres

Skinner - I left the negotiations in my agents' hands, they reported back to me and then we weighed the options and the pros and cons. The process went very smoothly, and I was involved just enough to know what was going on. #Sabres

Skinner - I want to win. When you look at the whole process, that's at the top of my list. The way the season ended was disappointing. We have some work to do, but I think when you look at the whole picture... (1/2) #Sabres

Skinner - ...there is some young talent here, the new head coach, and we're heading in the right direction. I hope to be a piece of the puzzle and help achieve our goal. (2/2) #Sabres

Skinner - I tried to reach out to a few people who knew Ralph Krueger, but most of them reached out to me. They were excited about the hire made by the #Sabres, and had plenty of good things to say about him. (1/2) #Sabres

Skinner - Everything was positive, everyone stressed how smart and positive he was. I'm excited to get to play for him. (2/2) #Sabres

Skinner - I could feel the excitement he had with being back in hockey and coaching for us. He's very smart, he's had a lot of experience that he has learned from. A lot of those things that were exciting for me about Ralph. #Sabres

Skinner - Jack [Eichel] is one of the best players in the league, and any time you have a player like him, you have a chance. He's an important part of our team, and he's definitely in the positive category. #Sabres