Friedman: Jeff Skinner Buyout is a possibility.

[Henkka]

The issue is him and Ruff clashing

Buffalo can retain and get him to $5M vs buy put.

Yeah, don't see a buyout, that's nonsense, but retaining the rest of the deal.

 

[xNogaitx]

If he doesn't want a buyout, and considering that Buffalo has said that the 11th pick is in play for forward help, why not combine the two?

MTL
Skinner 3Y @ 9M (full cap)
11OA

BUF
Anderson 3Y @ 5.5M (full cap)
+ young forward prospect (Mesar? Heineman?)
26OA

Anderson's buyout is literally half of what Skinner's is, so that gives them more flexibility next year/pushes back the decision a bit or makes it less impactful if they still go ahead with it.

It avoids a buyout for both players this year, Buffalo gains 3.5M on top of a 3RW with speed & size and a bottom 6 prospect at F that can fight for one of their open spots next year upfront.



Then MTL turns around and retains Skinner at 50% and some of their young D, or Matheson.

Wishful thinking here, but would Skinner @ 50% for 3Y, Matheson, and Harris be a package worthy of the 13OA which is also said to be in play?

Trying to be creative here, but MTL has the cap space and there's a few targets in this draft that could be interesting around 11-13OA (Sennecke, Iginla, Catton - allows them to take BPA at 5 which is likely a defenseman.)

 

[canuckslover10]

so does he sign a Matt Duchene type deal when his contract is bought out cause adding him and Guentzal for like 14-14.5 million would be great for our top 6.

 

[Patdud]

Bruins should be in on this as a cheaper UFA option if he does get bought out

 

[Mattilaus]

Yeah, don't see a buyout, that's nonsense, but retaining the rest of the deal.

Full NMC. Moving him isn't an option.

 

[seafoam]

No defense, no physicality, just a cherry picking slug.

Scoring filler for bad teams.

 

[Golden_Jet]

Who knows where he gets his info from, that's not something I can answer.

But I do know EF is legitimate

Yes he is.
But you need to parse what EF says at the beginning, which a lot of people don’t.

When he starts out with
I believe, I think, I’m wondering if ….
vs
I’m hearing, someone’s saying…..

 

[HogtownSabresfan]

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.

Exactly. Makes zero sense this year when we probably won't even be near the cap.

 

[Dr Quincy]

If he doesn't want a buyout, and considering that Buffalo has said that the 11th pick is in play for forward help, why not combine the two?

He doesn't have a choice.

And nobody is dealing a 1st rd pick to dump a contract AND taking back Anderson.

 

[MOGlLNY]

Surprised people think Skinner wouldn't make up the 7 million he would lose from a buyout.

The last three seasons he's scored 24, 35, 33 goals and he just entering his 32 season.... I'd be shocked if he didn't get a few million as a free agent

I'd say worse case he breaks even which I'm sure he'd be ok with it he got to go to any sort of competitive team

I don’t think you understand how abysmal he is on defense. If he was even below average this wouldn’t be a discussion.

He is the ring leader of the Sabres being soft, perimeter and not wanting to go to battle.

——————————————

Also more info:

https://x.com/i/web/status/1803411331229405284

 

[sxvnert]

Adams is too big of a coward to buy out Skinner.

 

[Mattilaus]

I don’t think you understand how abysmal he is on defense. If he was even below average this wouldn’t be a discussion.

He is the ring leader of the Sabres being soft, perimeter and not wanting to go to battle.

——————————————

Also more info:

https://x.com/i/web/status/1803411331229405284

Can we repeat, loudly, the part where it says nothing is coming from the Sabres or Skinners agent? You know, for the people saying EF is the oracle and wouldn't dare just be speculating like everyone else.

 

[MOGlLNY]

Can we repeat, loudly, the part where it says nothing is coming from the Sabres or Skinners agent? You know, for the people saying EF is the oracle and wouldn't dare just be speculating like everyone else.

I was told I was making stuff up about him and Adams

 

[Mattilaus]

I was told I was making stuff up about him and Adams

The best part is that most of us want EF to be right. We just know he likely has very little information to back up this speculation.

 

[HogtownSabresfan]

I have a hard time believing this because the salary cap will be $88 M in 2024-25 and Buffalo will be nowhere near that amount. My bet. The only reason I see Pegula doing this (based on his somewhat frugal ways over the past four years) is to save the actual $7.3 M, which is a lot of money. It is possible spending Pegula will show up again (that version of Pegula signed the Skinner deal in the first place), and I really question whether that is ideal. I'd rather have a reckless Pegula than a spendthrift Pegula, if I have to choose. Maybe Ruff moves Pegula to a more sensible ground. I have trouble believing it.

 

[tsujimoto74]

Can we repeat, loudly, the part where it says nothing is coming from the Sabres or Skinners agent? You know, for the people saying EF is the oracle and wouldn't dare just be speculating like everyone else.

This is not news to Sabres fans. We all know EF hasn’t had sources here since he made himself Eichel’s mouthpiece when he was forcing his way out of town.

But I’ll say it again for other fans reading this thread: EF has about as much insight in to Buffalo’s front office as you do.

 

[Nikolajs Sillers]

Winner ,winner buyout Skinner.

 

[CokenoPepsi]

I don’t think you understand how abysmal he is on defense. If he was even below average this wouldn’t be a discussion.

He is the ring leader of the Sabres being soft, perimeter and not wanting to go to battle.

——————————————

Also more info:

https://x.com/i/web/status/1803411331229405284

Maybe so, but goal scorers get paid

 

[bleedgreen]

Adams is too big of a coward to buy out Skinner.

Too big a coward or too smart? Skinner only has three years left, I don’t believe it’s really worth it this year. Buyouts are a crap option, especially if you don’t need it.

 

[Yatzhee]

Too big a coward or too smart? Skinner only has three years left, I don’t believe it’s really worth it this year. Buyouts are a crap option, especially if you don’t need it.

And this is true. But then, it's been reported here in Buffalo that since Lindy came back on board, he may very well be calling the shots.
The 1 exception to your opinion is the "especially if you don’t need it" comment. If indeed Lindy is mentoring Adams, showing him what the Sabres need with their young group to push over the hump and in to the playoffs, then yes, off loading Skinner, one way or the other is very real life.
Buffalo has the ammo to make big deals, very big deals on down to deals that address need and depth. A Skinner buyout only adds positives to that given the team friendly deals their youngsters have signed.

 

[TheNumber4]

If he’s bought out. He should come to
Edmonton on the cheap to give himself a chance for the Cup.

Oilers management was really high on Skinner at the draft. Would have traded up for him if it was all a possibility.

It would be a fitting full circle moment for him to finally hit the playoffs with the team that wanted him most.

 

[Jared Dunn]

He probably goes to Toronto for pretty cheap if so right? Word being he prefers to be near that area

Maybe so, but goal scorers get paid

Eh this feels like Duchene last year, making good money from a buyout and teams leary about giving him term so he'll probably take short term low money on a team where he's a good fit

 

[joestevens29]

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

It's not just that he's overpaid anymore. It's that he's not very good. Once the Sabres got guys like Quinn back, Skinner was playing bottom six minutes with PP2 time.

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.

But he was a 30 goal pace before that as well as the two seasons before, so my question is why was he only playing that kind of time?

Not that I think he's a guarantee to score 30 next year, but 20 isn't too far fetched for a guy on a bargain deal.

 

[Doug Prishpreed]

Tbf he does with Buffalo. He hasn’t had any sources within the Sabres org since he decided to be Eichel’s mouthpiece when he forced his way out of town.

lol yeah you’re sitting in buffalo and are aware of all of the connections that are eryone in the league has. Buffalo fans on here are laughable with all of their “insider knowledge.”

You do know that players have agents, right? And they’re allowed to talk to media outside Buffalo?

 

[LongWayDown37]

So this is what is likely happening:

Buffalo is trying to trade Skinner - I bet they feel like they can work through his NMC. But Buffalo is going to have to retain salary and potentially sweeten the pot with picks. Other teams want to up the retention or get more out of the Sabres - so they spread the word that Skinner is likely getting bought out to lower his value on the market. No way talks of buyout are coming from Sabres or Skinner - that doesn't help either of them.

My guess is he gets moved with retention.