Jeff Skinner - $9M healthy scratch

[EichHart]

Buffalo is the weirdest team ever. They have crapton of high first-round picks - players (Eichel, Reinhart, Mittelstadt, Cozens, Dahlin, Ristolainen), supported by bunch of veterans, who used to be quality players elsewhere (and high draft picks themselves - Hall, Skinner, Staal, Okposo) - and they still cant win shit, year after year. Is there any team more underachieving then them? Or is it the case of half of the players never really living up to the expectations given their draft pedigree and the other half past it?

The main factor is coaching and our goalies are trash. Put MAF and Gallant on this team and we're in the playoffs.

 

[Nikolajs Sillers]

Soon they need to scratch ten million player too.

 

[Nikolajs Sillers]

Ralph Krueger will make sure he never plays good again...terrible coach.

Krueger is not good of a coach but Skinner not helping himself either.

 

[Nikolajs Sillers]

Weird that some Buffalo fans still insist hes not that overpaid...

Who said so?

 

[Bedards Dad]

The main factor is coaching and our goalies are trash. Put MAF and Gallant on this team and we're in the playoffs.

"Change our teams and we are a playoff team" - Every team that currently isn't in the playoffs.

They are 4th last in G/GM and 12th last in GA/GM. I am sure the coach and goalie are a big part of that, but they aren't the only part of it. Eichel, Dahlin and Hall with 4 goals in 45 games just isn't good enough. They are your best players and need to produce as such. The rest of the team is leaving a lot to be desired as well. I don't have the answer, but it seems to be deeper than the goalie and coach.

 

[EichHart]

"Change our teams and we are a playoff team" - Every team that currently isn't in the playoffs.

They are 4th last in G/GM and 12th last in GA/GM. I am sure the coach and goalie are a big part of that, but they aren't the only part of it. Eichel, Dahlin and Hall with 4 goals in 45 games just isn't good enough. They are your best players and need to produce as such. The rest of the team is leaving a lot to be desired as well. I don't have the answer, but it seems to be deeper than the goalie and coach.

I guess. I only mentioned one player making this a playoff team, a coach doesn't count as a roster player. I think a real NHL coach will get this team going, the talent is obviously there. Their advanced stats have been middle of the pack, not bottom tier.

Also not sure if you guys know this but 11 guys got Covid, a few pretty bad. Risto our best d man is out for who knows how long with Covid and Jake McCabe our 2nd best dman is out the entire season breaking his entire knee..

How many teams could lose their top 2 dman and continue playing well?

 

[nbwingsfan]

See, that's the thing, he's not. He's like $2M overpaid if you actually use him for what he's good for and get 30-40G out of him every year.

How exactly do you know youll get 30-40 goals out of him? He hasnt come close to that since he got to Buffalo outside of that hot like 30 games two seasons ago...

 

[nbwingsfan]

Who said so?

Its been in multiple threads that its not a very bad contract and at most a ~$1M overpaid.

 

[nbwingsfan]

I guess. I only mentioned one player making this a playoff team, a coach doesn't count as a roster player. I think a real NHL coach will get this team going, the talent is obviously there. Their advanced stats have been middle of the pack, not bottom tier.

Also not sure if you guys know this but 11 guys got Covid, a few pretty bad. Risto our best d man is out for who knows how long with Covid and Jake McCabe our 2nd best dman is out the entire season breaking his entire knee..

How many teams could lose their top 2 dman and continue playing well?

How many teams are going to the playoffs with Jake McCabe as their second best D?

 

[TMLegend]

That contract is hilarious. Arguably the worst signed post 2005.

 

[EichHart]

How many teams are going to the playoffs with Jake McCabe as their second best D?

He was playing well this year before he got hurt. The best top 2 pairing I've seen on the Sabres in awhile. Not that its saying much. I don't want to make excuses as clearly the team sucks, but there are reasons they suck more this year then they should.

 

[EichHart]

How many teams are going to the playoffs with Jake McCabe as their second best D?

Our advance stats are not too bad actually. Seems like a little bit of bad luck. But its been a decade of misery as a fan. Luckily the Bills are good again or it would really suck.

Team Season Totals - Natural Stat Trick

 

[isles55]

Skinner is getting shots off. For a team that has been as terrible as the Sabres 5v5, that has some value. Buffalo should stop jerking him around on the 4th line and play him with offensive players in the top 6.

 

[EichHart]

Skinner is getting shots off. For a team that has been as terrible as the Sabres 5v5, that has some value. Buffalo should stop jerking him around on the 4th line and play him with offensive players in the top 6.

I wish we had your coach.

 

[KirkAlbuquerque]

No team is ever forced to give any player a big deal. Teams always have a choice.

If they just let him walk it would have been a horrible signal to the fanbase and to Eichel that they weren't serious about building a contender

 

[ICanMotteBelieveIt]

Damn Jeff really skinned 'em.

 

[ijuka]

really sucks. Buffalo was pretty much forced to give him a big deal and they're being punished for it. No sport is as handcuffed by salary caps as much as hockey

How? They could easily have offered him a short deal instead.

If they just let him walk it would have been a horrible signal to the fanbase and to Eichel that they weren't serious about building a contender

This is some submissive attitude. I'd hate to have a leader think like this. I'd fire them on the spot.

 

[Kuznetsnow]

What moronic management. Skinner is not a 4th line player. Why not put McDavid in goal and bitch about how overpaid he is.

It's impossible to determine if Skinner is a 1, 5, 7 or 9 million dollar player if you don't play him in the role that net him the contract. But it's possible to determine ( and obvious) that Krueger is not an NHL coach.

 

[T REX]

Too many players get paid after a career year and then they never come close to it.

I hate guaranteed contracts. Three years max. Let the market take care of the rest.

Bet you see a lot better hockey and baseball.

 

[KirkAlbuquerque]

How? They could easily have offered him a short deal instead.

This is some submissive attitude. I'd hate to have a leader think like this. I'd fire them on the spot.

sure they could have offered it, he wouldn't have taken it. Easy to say from the arm chair that they should have let him walk, you need to understand the position that franchise has been in

 

[42]

If they just let him walk it would have been a horrible signal to the fanbase and to Eichel that they weren't serious about building a contender

Not really. The fanbase is hopefully smart enough to understand that some contracts are just awful and actually hurt the chances of building a contender. Skinner did not have the consistent scoring track record for the contract he got.

 

[NK94]

What moronic management. Skinner is not a 4th line player. Why not put McDavid in goal and bitch about how overpaid he is.

It's impossible to determine if Skinner is a 1, 5, 7 or 9 million dollar player if you don't play him in the role that net him the contract. But it's possible to determine ( and obvious) that Krueger is not an NHL coach.

Skinner was never a 9M player so we don't have to wonder about that. His production evaporated in the same role during the second half of 2018-19 under Housley, but we can keep blaming Krueger that Skinner hasn't been producing for nearly two calendar years and is getting outproduced by his 4th line linemates currently.

 

[KirkAlbuquerque]

Not really. The fanbase is hopefully smart enough to understand that some contracts are just awful and actually hurt the chances of building a contender. Skinner did not have the consistent scoring track record for the contract he got.

i mean he's not some Cheechoo, hat 37 goals a couple years earlier, several other 30 goal seasons on some pretty lousy Carolina teams, and won the Calder at 18. He had the pedigree and it was understandable to think that now that he finally had an elite center to play with he would hit a new level. Many people thought he was overpaid but no one thought he would fall off this hard, he's not even 30 yet.

 

[42]

i mean he's not some Cheechoo, hat 37 goals a couple years earlier, several other 30 goal seasons on some pretty lousy Carolina teams, and won the Calder at 18. He had the pedigree and it was understandable to think that now that he finally had an elite center to play with he would hit a new level. Many people thought he was overpaid but no one thought he would fall off this hard, he's not even 30 yet.

That's true. But he also had inconsistency issues, concussion history and a reputation for being a soft player. Having just scored 40 goals may make some people overlook these red flags and it's easy to judge this contract in retrospect, I realize, but it was a bad contract at the time of signing too.

 

[daver]