Sabers begin process of buying out Jeff Skinner’s contract

The moment Adams dropped his microphone came at the conclusion of the NHL draft in Las Vegas when he revealed the Sabres had begun the process of buying out the final three years of Jeff Skinner’s $9 million-per-year contract.

“We started the process today,” Adams told reporters before returning to Buffalo to prepare for the start of unrestricted free agency Monday.

The team that endured the longest playoff drought in NHL history parted ways with a 30-goal scorer just months after finishing 23rd in the league in goals per game. The Sabres won’t be leaving without a scotch, either.

They’ll pay two-thirds of the $22 million owed to Skinner through 2026-27, and he’ll count against their salary cap for six more seasons at a reduced rate instead of the $9 million price tag he’s carried since the Sabers gave him an eight-year contract worth $72 million in 2019.

However, the stunning move creates an additional $7.55 million in salary cap space next season that the Sabres can spend on free agent signings or trade acquisitions. They added just one NHL player during draft week in Las Vegas, fourth-line winger Beck Malenstyn, whom they acquired Saturday in exchange for a 2024 second-round pick. The Sabres made eight draft picks over the weekend, including first-round pick Konsta Helenius on Friday.

The Sabers will have about $31 million in cap space, according to Cap Friendly.com, which could allow them to make a competitive bid to add Patrick Kane from South Buffalo or complete a blockbuster trade for someone like Carolina Hurricanes winger Martin Necas. Adams needs to be careful with the type of contract he gives or acquires in the coming days, however.

Skinner’s cap hit for each of the six seasons will be $1.44 million in 2024-25, $4.44 million in 2025-26, $6.44 million in 2026-27, $2.44 million in 2027-28, $2.44 million in 2028-29 and $2.44 million in 2029-30. Skinner won’t be paid by the Sabres until he’s 38, and they’ll need young players from their prospect pipeline to contribute in the NHL on entry-level contracts in years when the dead cap is more expensive.

Repurchasing Skinner would have been unthinkable a year ago, coming off a season in which he produced 35 goals and a career-high 82 points, but his struggles in the final months of 2023-24 must have raised concerns among the Sabres about where he would fit under new coach Lindy Ruff.

“Basically, when you look at it all and weigh the pros and cons, what are the potential trades that we think would help our team improve?” Adams explained the day before the NHL draft. “If we were to make a trade, where does Jeff fit in our lineup? Jeff has been an elite scorer in this league for a long time, but if he’s not a big-time, fast-play guy, where do you put a player like that? So those are all things that we’re kind of evaluating. But, like I said, we’re very much in those discussions internally and externally and we still have time to make our final decision.”

The Sabres tried to trade Skinner before the NHL’s buyout period opened Thursday, but the 32-year-old winger wasn’t willing to waive the no-movement clause that owner Terry Pegula agreed to put in his contract five years ago. Skinner will now be able to choose his next team, rather than accepting a trade to anyone willing to take some of the money he was owed.

Teams will be lining up to try to sign Skinner at a discounted price. His 282 even-strength goals since 2010 are more than any active player except Patrick Kane, Alex Ovechkin, John Tavares, Steven Stamkos, Sidney Crosby and Brad Marchand. It’s possible that another team in Buffalo’s division — perhaps the hometown Toronto Maple Leafs — could try to add him once the buyout is complete.

Skinner scored at least 30 goals in six of his 14 NHL seasons, and he averaged 30 goals in Don Granato’s three seasons as coach. It’s a significant risk for the Sabers to go this route given Skinner’s chemistry with Tage Thompson and Alex Tuch, as well as the lack of established scorers on the roster, while they have yet to find a replacement.

Who will skate on the first line instead of Skinner? JJ Peterka has a career-high 28 goals this season, but, like Skinner, he tends to struggle with details away from the puck.

While Jack Quinn has top-tier talent, he has struggled to stay healthy in recent years. Zach Benson, the Sabres’ first-round pick in 2023, showed flashes of talent playing a mature two-way game as a teenager in the NHL last season. However, he needs to improve his shot to be considered a replacement for Skinner.

It’s possible the Sabres view Skinner as a player in decline after what they’ve seen this season. He told reporters he hasn’t been hampered by injury while scoring just seven goals and 13 points in 36 games after missing time in December with what the team called an upper-body injury. He’s skated fewer than 16 minutes in 21 of the last 23 games and has averaged just 13:35 of ice time while scoring zero goals in the last 13 games.

Skinner finished the year with 24 goals, but he finished with just 46 points while his 16 minutes of average ice time in 74 games was the second-lowest total of his career. His 211 shots on goal were the second-fewest he’s recorded in an 82-game season since being drafted seventh overall by the Carolina Hurricanes in 2010.

Turnarounds became more frequent. Skinner is at his best when he’s bashing opponents and driving them crazy with his work below the hash marks in the offensive zone, but he hasn’t made an impact in either area often enough for Granato to continue giving him top-six opportunities.

The Sabres couldn’t afford to have Skinner languish under Ruff the way he did when Ralph Krueger was behind the bench. Skinner scored just 16 goals in 84 games after signing a contract extension with Buffalo in June 2019.

Skinner is a defensive liability, he offers no physical strength and doesn’t get involved in the forecheck often enough. His shortcomings can make it difficult for a coach to build a roster, especially with a roster like the Sabres, because there are young, inexperienced forwards who have yet to learn the details needed to win. in the NHL.

It wasn’t a case of a player wanting to leave Buffalo. Skinner loved the city and his teammates. He grew up in Markham, Ont., where his family still resides. Skinner donated $53,000 to help COVID-19 victims in Western New York during the pandemic in 2020. His preference was to re-sign with the club in 2019 after a 40-goal season in which he showed he complemented Jack Eichel and Sam Reinhart on the top line.

The Sabers seem to want to use that money to learn different skills that can help them win. It’s not entirely Skinner’s fault that this season he became the first player in NHL history to go 1,000 career games without making the playoffs, but the independent work that made him a talent exceptional can lead to mistakes and test the patience of his coaches.

The move, perhaps Adams’ boldest since becoming general manager in 2020, is another blow to a fan base tired of disappointment. Skinner was loved by many in Buffalo because of his signature plays, his signature moments, his parasitic approach on the ice to drive his opponents crazy, his wry sense of humor and his ironic goal songs sung by pop singers like Miley Cyrus.

Skinner scored some of the memorable goals during the team’s 10-game winning streak in the fall of 2019, which raised hopes that better days were near, and again in 2022-23, when the Sabers finished with 91 points, almost ending the drought. He was supposed to be a pillar on which a contending team was built. Instead, he is the latest player to be sidelined in the franchise’s latest attempt to fix what has gone wrong since Buffalo hosted a playoff game in 2011.