Player Discussion Jeff Skinner

[coastal]

Skins is being asked to responsibly drive a 2nd line from the wing with a center who ideally is a 3rd line winger.

He belongs on Jack’s line along with Samson. They would rival Boston’s top line.

The problem is Olofsson can’t do what Skins is doing and would be more than exposed.

Right now, the Sabres are missing an entire middle 6 with 3rd and 4th liners trying to make it work.

This more than anything is why the Sabres aren’t a playoff team.

 

[Sabre the Win]

Any news on his injury?

 

[Sabretooth]

Out 3-4 weeks per twitter

 

[Deevo]

Any news on his injury?

3-4 weeks

 

[The Colonel]

Is it Skinner' shoulder? Concussion worries?

3-4 weeks

 

[Chainshot]

Is it Skinner' shoulder? Concussion worries?

Shoulder.

 

[Snippit]

Sigh...he looked like he was getting going again and this happens

 

[sabrebuild]

Well. That sucks.I liked his passing for the last 3-4 games.

 

[Howie Hodge]

Well, let's just hope someone steps it up in his absence..........

Okay, okay, I couldn't even type that with a straight face......

 

[GoCanes2015]

Sorry to see he's out for a while. Looks like you guys are seeing some of the same stuff we saw when he was in CAR. Small game sets of exciting potential, above average goal scorer, but struggles in a number of different areas of his game, raising frustration levels with what could be a top talent. He gives and he takes away, making all fans crazy. Fun guy to watch, but not on a consistent basis. Hope he comes back strong and healthy.

 

[valet]

Sorry to see he's out for a while. Looks like you guys are seeing some of the same stuff we saw when he was in CAR. Small game sets of exciting potential, above average goal scorer, but struggles in a number of different areas of his game, raising frustration levels with what could be a top talent. He gives and he takes away, making all fans crazy. Fun guy to watch, but not on a consistent basis. Hope he comes back strong and healthy.

My biggest gripe with Skinner is his lack of intelligence when it comes to reading plays in the ozone. It's like he has no concept of what his teammates might do in a given situation. Rarely, if ever, can he see and execute simple stuff (like a give and go) that would get him opportunities close to the net. Defensively, he is fine. And he plays with a bit of an edge. But at 9 x 8, you better know how to play off of your linemates, and he just can't seem to do it, even with an ultra smart player like Johansson with him.

 

[Zman5778]

My biggest gripe with Skinner is his lack of intelligence when it comes to reading plays in the ozone. It's like he has no concept of what his teammates might do in a given situation. Rarely, if ever, can he see and execute simple stuff (like a give and go) that would get him opportunities close to the net. .....even with an ultra smart player like Johansson with him.

I'm not sure it's that. And I also don't think that MoJo is some "ultra smart player", he just stands out to us because everyone else is crap. I think Skinner's offensive intelligence is just fine. He's just playing with a ton of offensive dimwits this year. I don't think it's a coincidence that his best stretches this year have been with MoJo, given that MoJo is probably the smartest offensive forward we have behind Jack, Sam, Victor and Skinner. Other than those 5.......I think maybe only Vesey would qualify for having any sort of offensive intelligence when it comes to reading plays, and that's marginal at best. We're bereft of any sort of offensive intelligence otherwise.

And given that 3 of those aforementioned players (Jack, Sam, Vic) have been stapled to each other.....it's no wonder that Skinner was struggling some. Also worth noting that Skinner was starting to revive again once reunited with MoJo and Vesey.

Skinner can drive his own line......but he still needs players that know their way around the offensive zone. He's looking in places where players SHOULD be, but they're not. And I think that's completely on them, not Skinner.

 

[sabrebuild]

I'm not sure it's that. And I also don't think that MoJo is some "ultra smart player", he just stands out to us because everyone else is crap. I think Skinner's offensive intelligence is just fine. He's just playing with a ton of offensive dimwits this year. I don't think it's a coincidence that his best stretches this year have been with MoJo, given that MoJo is probably the smartest offensive forward we have behind Jack, Sam, Victor and Skinner. Other than those 5.......I think maybe only Vesey would qualify for having any sort of offensive intelligence when it comes to reading plays, and that's marginal at best. We're bereft of any sort of offensive intelligence otherwise.

And given that 3 of those aforementioned players (Jack, Sam, Vic) have been stapled to each other.....it's no wonder that Skinner was struggling some. Also worth noting that Skinner was starting to revive again once reunited with MoJo and Vesey.

Skinner can drive his own line......but he still needs players that know their way around the offensive zone. He's looking in places where players SHOULD be, but they're not. And I think that's completely on them, not Skinner.

I think he is very smart with his choices and instincts in the ozone from the box, basically the facoff dots as the edges and from the top of the circles down. He committs to getting his shot off early enough that he avoids a lot of deflections that should happen playing in traffic like he does.

And occasionally he has some good setups out of his dangles, but generally for a guy with his puck skills and skating he is pretty bad at manufacturing opportunities for linemates.

He just doesn't look for plays for his linemates as a focus and lacks that elite level vision where he makes a saucer over a defenders heel and catches his guy in stride for a back door play. Instead he trusts himself as the shooter and it limits him. Especially because he doesn't have the crazy elite speed to get away from guys like Hall or Eichel or Mac.

 

[Icicle]

I get that everyone has been trying to find Jack a RW, but the Skinner-Eichel chemistry was just too much to ignore. After his injury, I'd put him back, and have Oloffson switch to his RW where he is better in the o-zone at taking shots anyway. Let Jack/Jeff do the puck digging and creating the awkward situations Skinner does best.

Skinner-Eichel-Oloffson
trade target-Johansson-Reinhart
bottom-6

It's much easier in the trade market to acquire a 2nd line LW than it is a 1st line RW.

 

[Doug Prishpreed]

Sorry to see he's out for a while. Looks like you guys are seeing some of the same stuff we saw when he was in CAR. Small game sets of exciting potential, above average goal scorer, but struggles in a number of different areas of his game, raising frustration levels with what could be a top talent. He gives and he takes away, making all fans crazy. Fun guy to watch, but not on a consistent basis. Hope he comes back strong and healthy.

It's hard to get frustrated with him in particular when the rest of the team sucks so badly. He's basically been playing fine, even though the production isn't there.

 

[GoCanes2015]

Pretty spot on. From a 82-game pace view, he's just slightly better in BUF than he was in CAR in 2 areas - Goals (34g pace in BUF, 29g pace in CAR), and S% (12.9% in BUF, 10.6% in CAR). His shots per game are virtually identical, his AST are lower (21/season BUF, 25/season CAR). His +/- is better, for what that's worth. Seems like his Takeaway/Giveaway numbers continue to slip in recent years, suggesting a slight lapse in defense, but that could be more a function of the team system than Skinner himself.

So Skinner is Skinner. If his S% doesn't regress to his CAR average, he'll likely put up 50 points, not much else.

I think he is very smart with his choices and instincts in the ozone from the box, basically the facoff dots as the edges and from the top of the circles down. He committs to getting his shot off early enough that he avoids a lot of deflections that should happen playing in traffic like he does.

And occasionally he has some good setups out of his dangles, but generally for a guy with his puck skills and skating he is pretty bad at manufacturing opportunities for linemates.

He just doesn't look for plays for his linemates as a focus and lacks that elite level vision where he makes a saucer over a defenders heel and catches his guy in stride for a back door play. Instead he trusts himself as the shooter and it limits him. Especially because he doesn't have the crazy elite speed to get away from guys like Hall or Eichel or Mac.

 

[K8fool]

Skins is being asked to responsibly drive a 2nd line from the wing with a center who ideally is a 3rd line winger.

He belongs on Jack’s line along with Samson. They would rival Boston’s top line.

The problem is Olofsson can’t do what Skins is doing and would be more than exposed.

Right now, the Sabres are missing an entire middle 6 with 3rd and 4th liners trying to make it work.

This more than anything is why the Sabres aren’t a playoff team.

I have to think.. Skinner and his agent were given a chance to accept 7.5 or 8 million for eichel line or being paid 9 and on a gentleman s skake to drive his own line to distribute scoring more evenly and not pout.. A mitts like deal.. That may hinge on a trade that never happened. Who knows.. I do know another fast physical skilled shooter w Skinner and mojo is a potent 2nd line .

 

[Member 308457]

Pretty spot on. From a 82-game pace view, he's just slightly better in BUF than he was in CAR in 2 areas - Goals (34g pace in BUF, 29g pace in CAR), and S% (12.9% in BUF, 10.6% in CAR). His shots per game are virtually identical, his AST are lower (21/season BUF, 25/season CAR). His +/- is better, for what that's worth. Seems like his Takeaway/Giveaway numbers continue to slip in recent years, suggesting a slight lapse in defense, but that could be more a function of the team system than Skinner himself.

So Skinner is Skinner. If his S% doesn't regress to his CAR average, he'll likely put up 50 points, not much else.

Classic Pegula Era Sabres overpayment.

 

[Aladyyn]

I get that everyone has been trying to find Jack a RW, but the Skinner-Eichel chemistry was just too much to ignore. After his injury, I'd put him back, and have Oloffson switch to his RW where he is better in the o-zone at taking shots anyway. Let Jack/Jeff do the puck digging and creating the awkward situations Skinner does best.

Skinner-Eichel-Oloffson
trade target-Johansson-Reinhart
bottom-6

It's much easier in the trade market to acquire a 2nd line LW than it is a 1st line RW.

The "chemistry" of Eichel and Skinner is quite overstated. When you look at the goals Skinner scored last season, a surprisingly low number of them come from an Eichel pass, most of the assists to Skinner were actually rebounds.

 

[KiwiGriff]

Classic Pegula Era Sabres overpayment.

You have to remember that when a player is choosing where to play he is considering many factors: salary, chance of a cup, people he'd be playing with, city he'd be living in, history of the club and other things I can't think of. Buffalo unfortunately isn't seen as favourably as a city compared to California or a major centre like NY, or Toronto etc. History of the club is acceptable, but it's no original six, people he'd be playing with ... only Eichel holds any drawing power and let's be frank ... no one thinks they are winning a cup in Buffalo the way we currently look. Add that all together and the main thing to draw a player is money, which means we overpay. Other cities hitting more of the factors above can get away with paying less. I don't see the salary as all the organisation's fault. We get a winning team, he can possibly get away with paying less. They let Skinner go at the end of last season's 40 goals, fans arrive with pitchforks.

 

[Aladyyn]

It's hard to get frustrated with him in particular when the rest of the team sucks so badly. He's basically been playing fine, even though the production isn't there.

Pretty much, lots of factors outside of his control pushing his production down: ice time, deployment, linemates, PP setup

 

[Drunkard]

You have to remember that when a player is choosing where to play he is considering many factors: salary, chance of a cup, people he'd be playing with, city he'd be living in, history of the club and other things I can't think of. Buffalo unfortunately isn't seen as favourably as a city compared to California or a major centre like NY, or Toronto etc. History of the club is acceptable, but it's no original six, people he'd be playing with ... only Eichel holds any drawing power and let's be frank ... no one thinks they are winning a cup in Buffalo the way we currently look. Add that all together and the main thing to draw a player is money, which means we overpay. Other cities hitting more of the factors above can get away with paying less. I don't see the salary as all the organisation's fault. We get a winning team, he can possibly get away with paying less. They let Skinner go at the end of last season's 40 goals, fans arrive with pitchforks.

Skinner had a full NMC in place with Carolina and he could have gone just about anywhere (I highly doubt other teams weren't willing to beat the offer of Cliff Pu and some lower level picks). He wanted to go to Buffalo or Toronto so his parents could drive to games and Toronto didn't have the space after paying Matthews and Tavares with Marner still needing a new contract (at the time) so they had no interest. Botterill could have had some leverage with that knowledge but it vanquished because the O'Reilly trade blew up in his face and Skinner was the only move he made besides lucking into Dahlin that kept him from looking completely incompetent. Because of that, Skinner's agent took him to the woodshed and spanked Mr. MBA on all 3 phases of the contract (8 years, $9 million per season, and full NMC for the entire 8 years).

 

[Snippit]

To the people saying "he's been fine this year":

No, he really has not. Eichel line or not, 19 points in 42 games is puke worthy for 9M...

 

[paulmm3]

Said it before and I'll say it again. This organization values "character" versus straight hockey talent way too much. Skinner doesn't get that contract if he's not a hard working good dude from near Buffalo

 

[Sabretooth]

If he could go ahead and, um, score a goal again that would be great, mkay?