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

[TehDoak]

Is he in the locker room causing problems? Probably not. In everything I ever saw, he seems like a really nice guy.

The players love him. That is the problem.

He's a leader by example whether he wants to be or not, simply because of his production in previous seasons, his longevity, and his contract. When he doesn't play hard or bother to work consistently for pucks or play defense, they notice. Hard to tell young players to play defense "or else" when they've seen Skinner get away with it for years.

EDIT: In my management classes they had a concept called "level setting". Reset your organizations expectations and then hold to those new levels. This is the NHL version of "level setting".

This right here is why he had to go. You can't have premium ice time being rewarded to someone who isn't putting in the effort. Why would anyone else work hard?

 

[CrazyWayne]

I’m laying $100 on who signes Skinner. That’s how this works, right?

I planned on doing this as well lol
(Also zemgus if he signs elsewhere)

 

[Chainshot]

Eh, this contract was always a bad idea. His scoring always swung year to year.

The cautionary tale is you don't pay someone a massive contract with term and a NMC after an outlier year, which is what we did for Skinner.

I called this deal a 'This is a desperate bad deal made by a desperate, bad team' the day it was signed. And it was. Well overmarket. Full NMC. Max term. For a guy that had good year/bad year alternating his whole career.

In his 5 years here, we got his two best years and two worst years and a middling year. Age surely doesn't help, but he is who we thought he was.

He's 32 and the skating stats showed him to be one of the slowest guys in the league now. The reason for his slip in play, he's not 26 any more. He's 32 and the wheels are wobbling on that wagon.

 

[joshjull]

He's 32 and the skating stats showed him to be one of the slowest guys in the league now. The reason for his slip in play, he's not 26 any more. He's 32 and the wheels are wobbling on that wagon.

 

[Chainshot]

His skating speed stats were shitty before MacKinnon destroyed him.

 

[joshjull]

His skating speed stats were shitty before MacKinnon destroyed him.

Not disagreeing, just passing on info. Thought your post was a good jumping in point.

 

[Deep Blue Metallic]

I think we can all agree that Skinner's liabilities are much more tolerable when he's potting 30+ goals per season.

He scored 24 last season. At age 32, it's entirely possible he won't hit 20, let alone 30 for the rest of his career.

Whatever value he has will be realized on a veteran team with a realistic Cup chance, playing relatively sheltered 3rd-line and PP2 minutes. I'd liken his ideal situation to Kessel going to the Penguins, except Phil was 28 when that happened.

 

[joshjull]

 

[Dingo44]

Pouring out a SmartWater for Jeff.

 

[slip]

And thank you Jeff for refusing to budge an inch during your contract negotiations and inevitable buyout. Your selfishness both on and off the ice will never be forgotten.

 

[sabremike]

And thank you Jeff for refusing to budge an inch during your contract negotiations and inevitable buyout. Your selfishness both on and off the ice will never be forgotten.

If he didn't waive to allow himself to be exposed in the expansion draft Tage would be a Seattle Kraken right now.

 

[Fjordy]

If he didn't waive to allow himself to be exposed in the expansion draft Tage would be a Seattle Kraken right now.

Didn't they protect Asplund or Bjork?

 

[old kummelweck]

They need to get rid of the NMC in the next CBA. Anti-competitive.

 

[slip]

If he didn't waive to allow himself to be exposed in the expansion draft Tage would be a Seattle Kraken right now.

Or Bjork. Or Asplund.

The guy extracted plenty of resources from the organization. Would a little flexibility here at the end really have killed him?

 

[jc17]

I think we can all agree that Skinner's liabilities are much more tolerable when he's potting 30+ goals per season.

He scored 24 last season. At age 32, it's entirely possible he won't hit 20, let alone 30 for the rest of his career.

Whatever value he has will be realized on a veteran team with a realistic Cup chance, playing relatively sheltered 3rd-line and PP2 minutes. I'd liken his ideal situation to Kessel going to the Penguins, except Phil was 28 when that happened.

He's 32 and the skating stats showed him to be one of the slowest guys in the league now. The reason for his slip in play, he's not 26 any more. He's 32 and the wheels are wobbling on that wagon.

He had a down year but like other people have been saying, he was always up and down.

I get that he's 32 but IDK that I'm fully on board with the idea that this year's drop in production is completely a result of his game falling off. The offense across the team dropped significantly. Below are the biggest 5v5 points/60 falloffs.

The Thompson injury probably had a bit to do with it, and before skinner is accused of dragging Tage down, Skinner's production with Mitts was quite a bit higher.

Now financially and culturally it might make sense to buy him out, but I don't think his production vanishes into obscurity because of his age

 

[sabremike]

Me RN:

 

[zuikan]

All the PPs he screwed up lost my tolerance for him and enthusiasm for Granato, not to mention 5x5.

 

[Dingo44]

 

[TageGod]

Thanks Jeff! Was one of the few entertaining players we had, especially his chirp and dry humor. He is who he is, we overpaid for him, it's not his fault. Hope he makes the playoffs on his next team (as long as we do as well).

 

[Dingo44]

 

[Ehran]

Skinner will score 30 - 35 goals this season. His skill wasn't the question, and lined up with McDavid or Draistl he'll have opportunities to score.

 

[Zach716]

Watch him score 100 with McDavid lol

 

[Daz28]

Skinner will score 30 - 35 goals this season. His skill wasn't the question, and lined up with McDavid or Draistl he'll have opportunities to score.

I mean he must be a horrible enough drag on a team to justify a buyout for cap money that we didn't even need, and will hurt us down the road. That's why the team who was 1 goal away from OT in the cup game 7 signed him, right? The silly narrative will remain even if he does great or horrible in EDM.

 

[HogtownSabresfan]

I mean he must be a horrible enough drag on a team to justify a buyout for cap money that we didn't even need, and will hurt us down the road. That's why the team who was 1 goal away from OT in the cup game 7 signed him, right? The silly narrative will remain even if he does great or horrible in EDM.

The Sabres are easily the worst franchise in hockey. This buyout is just the latest proof. He will score 30+ and be a positive player in Edmonton. For $3 M. And we signed Zucker for $5 M and have a cap issue five more years.

 

[Sabre Dance]

The Sabres are easily the worst franchise in hockey. This buyout is just the latest proof. He will score 30+ and be a positive player in Edmonton. For $3 M. And we signed Zucker for $5 M and have a cap issue five more years.

I feel like ever since O’Reilly Pegula has been super sensitive towards any sign a player doesn’t want to be in Buffalo.

He’s going to have to get over that. Especially with all the losing.