Friedman: Jeff Skinner Buyout is a possibility.

[Big Daddy Cane]

sounds good man. I’m sure you do


how many Sabres games did you watch this year? Genuinely curious

Greater than the 3 I actively wanted to watch, but less than 10. May as well just put on whatever is scheduled for the Saturday matinee.

My bullishness is mostly breaking point theory; a team can only suck for so long before the sheer accumulation of talent takes hold. Also, the goaltending that led to Top 5 defensive results in the 2nd half is an encouraging sign.

 

[HockeyVirus]

I really hope the Leafs sign him. My least favorite player ever to put a Sabres jersey on.

I do too. He can be our Kessel and sign for league min without the pressure of the contract and win us a cup

 

[Irie]

Jeff Skinner the last quarter of the season:
22 GP, 5 Goals, 10 Pts, 13:33 TOI/GP

The people who think "oh gee, Sabres buy him out, we can get him for cheap, slot him in our top 6 and viola...we just added a top sixer, 30+ goal guy for nothing"...are in for a rude awakening. We all know he can't be "the" guy...the problem is he's not much of "a" guy at this point.

Not saying he isn't worth a shout if he's bought out and floating around for a cheap-o deal...but the idea that he should be an integral part of any contending team's top six or a relied upon PP weapon - those days are probably over.

The thing is, you probably would get a 30 goal guy with Skinner *IF* you are willing to play him in your top 6 with players that create space.

Skinner was leading the team in points the first half of the season, and his big drop in production was really due to his change in linemates. We saw the exact same thing happen in 2019-20 and 2020-21 when he was playing in the bottom six.

Skinner doesn't even really need PP time to score, as he scored by far most of his goals at even strength(close to 80% historically), he just needs to play with a line-driver(he can't create offense on his own).

The cost with Skinner is that he cheats offensively and is not at all positionally sound defensively, Play him with players that create space for him and he should score goals in bunches, but know that he is going to cost the team a lot of chances going the other way. If you can counter that, he may be useful for a team needing goals, but if you can't plan for it, he may cost your team as many goals as he produces. The one bonus with Skinner is that he is constantly chirping and getting under opponents skin, and he tends to draw a lot of penalties for your team, which can be valuable.

 

[HogtownSabresfan]

On the Jeff Marek show they brought up Jeff Skinner as a potential buyout candidate,Elliot said it was a possibility because it would save Buffalo 7.5 million on the cap next year, and next year is a big year for Buffalo.

If they did it I would be all over him, especially with both Domi and Bertuzzi as free agents soon.

If they leave they need to be replaced and you can't replace everybody with Marlies.

Can't wait until Leafs trade Marner and get 35 goals and 50 assists from Skinner playing with Matthews for $3 M.

 

[MOGlLNY]

Greater than the 3 I actively wanted to watch, but less than 10. May as well just put on whatever is scheduled for the Saturday matinee.

My bullishness is mostly breaking point theory; a team can only suck for so long before the sheer accumulation of talent takes hold. Also, the goaltending that led to Top 5 defensive results in the 2nd half is an encouraging sign.

Gotcha. Jeff is useless if he’s not playing top 6 or PP which we are worse when he’s in. Even Granato who have gave gim as much leash as you could want sat him in the final stretch.

Him on the third line is pissing in the wind especially when we need to revamp the look we have in our bottom 6.

If this happens it’s just another step to make more moves to push us forward. I don’t imagine this happens with no moves following.

 

[Scintillating10]

Would Buffalo trade their pick for team take his contract?

 

[eojsmada]

I'm no Skinner fan...but the team has bigger issues than him and buying him out won't help them in a couple of years when they might start to figure it out.

 

[Irie]

Would Buffalo trade their pick for team take his contract?

More than likely, yes. Problem is that he is still owed 22M on his current contract, and it is doubtful any teams would be lining up to take on that contract for what Skinner brings just to get the 11th overall pick.

 

[bleedgreen]

It’s summer time and those who want/need clicks are doing their thing. I don’t think Skinner hinders them much at all and he’s not done as a player. I think Thompson having such a set back year and Cozens being hurt early set them on a bad track they couldn’t get themselves out of. Skinner doesn’t deserve to the be the scapegoat any more than he deserved it on the Canes. He’s a hard working guy, and most pure scorers are generally flawed in other aspects of the game. I think Buffalo is close.

 

[VaporTrail]

Come to Toronto, bud.

You can have him along with his Miley Cyress and Mariah Carey goal songs.

 

[Scintillating10]

More than likely, yes. Problem is that he is still owed 22M on his current contract, and it is doubtful any teams would be lining up to take on that contract for what Skinner brings just to get the 11th overall pick.

If Buffalo would retain a little or take semi-bad contract back might make a deal?

 

[CokenoPepsi]

I'm sure Skinner would welcome a buyout and get a nice little raise becoming a free agent

 

[Irie]

If Buffalo would retain a little or take semi-bad contract back might make a deal?

As stated earlier in the thread, Skinner's NMC is the hurdle in any potential trade. Only way I see it working out is if the Sabres decide to buy him out, and he instead accepts a trade to protect his contract and maximize the revenue. Question is, could he make more from a buyout and then getting another lesser deal from another club?

Trade with retention risk is that the new club buys him out and then the Sabres have a retention slot tied up for six years. At a certain point, the savings of retention over just buying him out may be too small to justify the risk.

 

[MOGlLNY]

I'm sure Skinner would welcome a buyout and get a nice little raise becoming a free agent

Debatable he’d get a raise and then he would also not have job security beyond this coming year.

 

[frightenedinmatenum2]

This seems like one of those situations where retaining 50% would be better than a buyout, but maybe there's no takers

He has a NMC. He doesn't have any incentive to waive if he suspects a buyout is possible. Becoming a UFA will open things up to where he can go to any team because he still might not be worth 5M x 3Y to some teams.

In addition to that, it's likely a wash money wise. He is owed 23 million, so a buyout costs him 7.59M over the next 3 seasons. Meaning, if he signs for either 2.53M x 3 years, or 3.8M x 2 years, or 7.59 x 1 year, he breaks even.

In all likelihood, he would end up making more money over the next 3 years with a buyout while also getting more control over his career.

I guess that the only argument for him playing ball with a trade would be that he would keep his NMC on his new team, and he is unlikely to get one if he signs somewhere as a UFA. If he is settled down and doesn't want to move around, that would be incentive to waive instead of going for a buyout.

 

[Chainshot]

Just so we are also clear, EF and Adams have a very icy relationship and I’d be weary about any claims he’s making

I wouldn't say it's adversarial, it's that Friedman has mentioned he gets very little directly from Buffalo.

 

[Drumman44]

What would it cost Buffalo to trade him to another team for a buyout?

 

[Leafshater67]

I wouldn’t if i were them. They’re not desperate for cap space, they could wait at least another year or two before deciding.

If I were a team like San Jose, I’d be calling to make a deal on Barclay Goodrow too since it seems he may get bought out.

 

[CokenoPepsi]

Debatable he’d get a raise and then he would also not have job security beyond this coming year.

He'd only need to make 7ish million on his new deal, very likely and would probably get to go to a more competitive team

 

[MOGlLNY]

He'd only need to make 7ish million on his new deal, very likely and would probably get to go to a more competitive team

Yeah but I don’t see him getting that. I see him hopping around on 1 year deals personally. Does he want the safety of the extra years? I think that dictates it.

 

[thedjpd]

More than likely, yes. Problem is that he is still owed 22M on his current contract, and it is doubtful any teams would be lining up to take on that contract for what Skinner brings just to get the 11th overall pick.

I had a proposal to Sabres fans that went over fairly well.

TK + Laughton for Kulich, Skinner, 11th.

Obviously assuming TK would re-sign in Buffalo and the Flyers would actually trade him, of which you or I have no idea. But something around that.

Flyers seem to be really targeting the 2026-2027 season as a go date and over the next 2 seasons they'll have Atkinson's buyout gone (assuming he is), Petersson's money off, Hayes off, TDA off, RyJo, I think Ellis off as well, and Skinner would have a year left to which they can buy him out as well. May make sense. I dunno, I stink at these. Maybe it has to include Krebs or somebody of that ilk back, but around a baseline I think it's reasonable?

Skinner can produce 20g still, and it also opens them up to trade Farabee to upgrade C.

I think TK solves a gritty wing need, and Laughton solves a 3C problem. And both bring character/grit/leadership as well.

 

[Amadeus]

You can have him along with his Miley Cyress and Mariah Carey goal songs.

That's a deal breaker.

 

[Golden_Jet]

That's a deal breaker.

Ya, it’s all about Justin Bieber there

 

[Irie]

I had a proposal to Sabres fans that went over fairly well.

TK + Laughton for Kulich, Skinner, 11th.

Obviously assuming TK would re-sign in Buffalo and the Flyers would actually trade him, of which you or I have no idea. But something around that.

Flyers seem to be really targeting the 2026-2027 season as a go date and over the next 2 seasons they'll have Atkinson's buyout gone (assuming he is), Petersson's money off, Hayes off, TDA off, RyJo, I think Ellis off as well, and Skinner would have a year left to which they can buy him out as well. May make sense. I dunno, I stink at these. Maybe it has to include Krebs or somebody of that ilk back, but around a baseline I think it's reasonable?

Skinner can produce 20g still, and it also opens them up to trade Farabee to upgrade C.

I think TK solves a gritty wing need, and Laughton solves a 3C problem. And both bring character/grit/leadership as well.

Adams would never trade Kulich and 11 for TK without an extension,(he has commented on never trading futures for players without guaranteed team control countless times) and TK can't be extended until after the draft, all of which would likely be an even bigger hurdle than convincing Skinner to waive his NMC.

 

[BB88]

Yeah they mentioned that too, that he had 1 really big year like they said with the cap shooting up that's not really a big deal.

By the time it hits 6.5 the capi will be close to 100 million, maybe even 100 million.

And certainly by the time he's making 2.5

So what?

That’s still 6.5M worth of empty cap, doesn’t matter whether the cap is at 100 or not

By then you really hope you had that available