Confirmed Signing with Link: [BUF] Jeff Skinner signs extension (8 years, $9M AAV)

[ottawa]

Year 1 (27): 35-40
Year 2 (28): 35-40
Year 3 (29): 35-40
Year 4 (30): 30-35
Year 5 (31): 25-30
Year 6 (32): 25-30
Year 7 (33): 20-30
Year 8 (34): 20-25

I'll take 225 - 270 goals over 8 years for 9MM

What is this based on? Can I get next weeks winning lotto numbers?

 

[1point21Gigawatts]

I don’t hate the Sabres, or like them. They’re more irrelevant than anything.

The is problem is I don’t understand where this leaves the Sabres. Are they any better than last year? Maybe if a few young guys take some major steps forward. Is this signing putting them into Cup contention? I don’t think anyone is arguing that. Seems like with this signing it might push them into 8th place in the conference if everything goes right. When that includes a bunch of young players taking major steps or continuing to set career highs and hoping that some goaltender can play well for more than half a season, that’s a lot of things that need to fall into place.

If a team overpaid a player because they thought that would put them over the top and into Cup contention I’d get that. When you overpay a player just to be below average I don’t get that.

Skinner was one of too few things to go right for us last year. Signing Skinner was a must in order to have a shot at improving because losing him would have made the team drastically worse, which is three steps below abysmal. Skinner was overpaid, i dont think many will contend otherwise (again, i don't think he was overpaid by all that much). Credit goes to Skinner's agent for reading the situation correctly and helping get his client the max contract. So does Skinner put the Sabres over the top? No, but he keeps them from regressing from last year and provides a better foundation to build on.

To your point about all of the "if's." My above paragraph speaks to the "if's." A team that has been as bad as the sabres doesnt get to deal in definitives. We can't afford to lose a good player because we don't know if the young guys we have will pan out the way we need them to. I think we'd have a better sense of the younger players actual value, had the team fired housley much sooner and brought in a competent coach, The Sabres GM is swinging for the fences with Krueger and hopefully he can help answer all of these if's through NHL caliber coaching. The problem is that even Krueger is a giant IF.

 

[A Pointed Stick]

Its a good deal for Buffalo.

Screw it if you don't like it.

Good deal ? No. Your only desperate choice? Yes. Don’t hate the messenger.

 

[GOALOFSSON]

He is Okposo at the time of signing. You just hope he will continue his 60+ point seasons unlike what Okposo did.

99% eh? I guess you are in 1st place still in next year’s standings. Keep it positive!

1. Try again.

2. I'd say there is almost 0% chance Eichel/Dahlin have lower point totals next year, most likely Sam and Skinner as well.

 

[TS Quint]

1. Try again.

2. I'd say there is almost 0% chance Eichel/Dahlin have lower point totals next year, most likely Sam and Skinner as well.

Try what again? Do you think that comes off as witty or smart? It make you come off as awkward and socially stunted. Honestly, do you say that to people verbally?

Your second point, assuming your think you made a first point, is unlikely when you are asking that many players to set career highs again. It's great you are optimistic though.

 

[GOALOFSSON]

Try what again? Do you think that comes off as witty or smart? It make you come off as awkward and socially stunted. Honestly, do you say that to people verbally?

Your second point, assuming your think you made a first point, is unlikely when you are asking that many players to set career highs again. It's great you are optimistic though.

At least you tried.

As for the 2nd (1st?) point you attempted to make, Dahlin was 18 and Eichel/Reinhart are both fairly young, talented, and played on subpar teams. Their almighty "career highs" are gonna rise barring injury. Just how it is. You can add Skinner to the list of career shattering too, for multiple reasons.

 

[EdmFlyersfan]

Dale Hawerchuk shed a tear somewhere....

 

[Pez68]

Brutal.

 

[Jamie Walker]

the Eichel contract was laughed at when signed, now looks like the "bargain" as stated. so if he can score like Tavares, is he worth 11 million? (and if he only makes 9, wouldn't that mean it's a "bargain"?)

 

[DelZottoHitTheNetJK]

The $9M a year I get. But 8 years Buffalo? Atrocious.

It's very obvious Buffalo had to overpay out the ass to keep this guy in Buffalo which is an unfortunate result of location and taxes. The NHL really needs to do something about tax/location advantage when it comes to signing players. Some type of system that allots x amount of additional cap space to teams that are in taxable states & small markets

 

[TorontoTrades]

Man does that Draisaitl's contract look great.

 

[Sam Spade]

the Eichel contract was laughed at when signed, now looks like the "bargain" as stated. so if he can score like Tavares, is he worth 11 million? (and if he only makes 9, wouldn't that mean it's a "bargain"?)

Who thinks Eichel's contract is a bargain? Eichel jobbed the Sabres completely coming off his ELC.

 

[Jamie Walker]

Man does that Draisaitl's contract look great.

just think how nice that Marner contract could look like

 

[Jamie Walker]

Who thinks Eichel's contract is a bargain? Eichel jobbed the Sabres completely coming off his ELC.

that was the quote (or something very close to it) from his agent, at the time of the signing. now, looking at the pay scale right now, I would say it's a bargain. he's 22 and signed for 7 more years at 10 per.

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

Who thinks Eichel's contract is a bargain? Eichel jobbed the Sabres completely coming off his ELC.

"Jobbed" is too far. He was essentially a PPG player who had some injury troubles.

 

[Yatzhee]

Who thinks Eichel's contract is a bargain? Eichel jobbed the Sabres completely coming off his ELC.

You know how many times fans have heard this only to reverse their thoughts half in to the contract as the cap escalation supercede's the contracts value?
To many times to count.
Both Eichel and Skinner's contracts will seem like bargains in 3 or 4 years. The same as O'Reilly's is today, and that one was laughed at when signed as well. The truth is, Eichel is one of the top 5 premier up and coming playmaking centers, and the left winger on his line, Skinner is 100% factually a top 5 even strength goal scorer in 5he past 5 seasons. Those contracts are right in line with where they need to be. Whether you and others choose to accept that or not I think is pretty much a moot point when put in to contract context with the past 10 to 12 years.

 

[Sasso09]

Ewwwwwwww


Wwwwwwwwwww

 

[truthbluth]

All time great thread.

 

[ICanMotteBelieveIt]

Is he overpaid? Sure.

But to put things into perspective.


An average American Football game lasts for 3 hours and 12 minutes. An average play lasts for 4 seconds. Active game time: 11 minutes. Time spent on showing replays: 17 minutes.

Nothing compares.. 2-3 of the best paid athletes in this world are American footballers.

 

[Go4soda]

Rather have Nylander @ 6.9 AAV.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

NVM

 

[obey86]

the Eichel contract was laughed at when signed, now looks like the "bargain" as stated. so if he can score like Tavares, is he worth 11 million? (and if he only makes 9, wouldn't that mean it's a "bargain"?)

The Eichel contract does not look like a bargain. It's not terrible or anything, but I wouldn't call it a bargain at all when a player like MacKinnon is making 6.3M or Draisatl is making 8.5, or Pastrnak is making 6.6M. Those are bargains.

For as good as Eichel is, he's still never surpassed 30 goals. 10M is a hell of a lot for a player who hasn't done that yet. I'm sure he will, but he hasn't yet.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

The Eichel contract does not look like a bargain. It's not terrible or anything, but I wouldn't call it a bargain at all when a player like MacKinnon is making 6.3M or Draisatl is making 8.5, or Pastrnak is making 6.6M. Those are bargains.

For as good as Eichel is, he's still never surpassed 30 goals. 10M is a hell of a lot for a player who hasn't done that yet. I'm sure he will, but he hasn't yet.

I agree it's probably a fair contract right now. Not a bargain and not bad either. A couple of comments for perspective though:
1) Marner will likely get $10M (or close) and hasn't passed 30 goals yet either. They are both more playmakers than shooters.
2) In fairness, it's probably injuries that have kept Eichel from 30. His 82G pace for the past 3 seasons are 32, 31, and 30. Granted, being able to play a full 82 is valuable and important and missing games can't be completely discounted either.

Focusing on points for Skinner (vs. goals as he's a goal scorer) and goals for Eichel (vs. points as he's more of a playmaker) is a bit misleading IMO.

I also agree that MacKinnon, Drai, and Pastrnak are bargains. In fairness though, many thought Drai's contract was bad when it was first signed.

 

[Kale Hulls]

Man does that Draisaitl's contract look great.

I wasn't a fan at all when it happened, but it is looking better every day. No idea how players of this caliber are getting contracts like this.

 

[obey86]

I agree it's probably a fair contract right now. Not a bargain and not bad either. A couple of comments for perspective though:
1) Marner will likely get $10M (or close) and hasn't passed 30 goals yet either. They are both more playmakers than shooters.
2) In fairness, it's probably injuries that have kept Eichel from 30. His 82G pace for the past 3 seasons are 32, 31, and 30. Granted, being able to play a full 82 is valuable and important and missing games can't be completely discounted either.

Focusing on points for Skinner (vs. goals as he's a goal scorer) and goals for Eichel (vs. points as he's more of a playmaker) is a bit misleading IMO.

I also agree that MacKinnon, Drai, and Pastrnak are bargains. In fairness though, many thought Drai's contract was bad when it was first signed.

Disagree with the Marner/Eichel thing. Eichel may be a good playmaker too, but he's definitely more of a shooter than Marner is. I mean, Eichel was top 5 in the entire NHL in # of shots last year. He shot as much as anyone in the game and his shot is supposed to be a major strength of his. Marner had 233 shots last year, Eichel had 303. Same story in previous years, Eichel was outshooting Marner by pretty significant amounts despite Eichel missing 15-20 games each season and Marner missing near zero games. That's a big difference showing to me that Eichel is more of a shooter than Marner.

Some good points. I think in a year or two Eichel's contract will be looked at as a bargain -- just saying it's not now -- it's more market value or a bit above. But as players like Marner, Matthews (already done), Point maybe, etc get $10M+ deals, and the cap continues to increase pushing all other salaries up, Eichel's contract will become more of a bargain.