Published by hockeybuzz.com, 5-31-2019
The big thing on twitter is to mock insiders by saying "my Secret Sabres Insider" has this to say about _____________.
Which is cool. Rumors concerning Buffalo Sabres players and posts in twitterland surrounding them and their situations should be fun as no one really knows what's going on inside of the war room at the foot of Washington Street. If you can say anything about Buffalo general manager Jason Botterill it's that he runs a tight ship when it comes to leaks. Botterill's predecessor Tim Murray was having a ball with the media and no one could keep a secret within his staff which had people calling complicated deals with extreme accuracy many hours before the deal was done.
Not so with Botterill. You can go back to Sam Reinhart's bridge contract signed last in late September where rumors all summer had him pulling in a large figure comparable to Stanley Cup-winner Tom Wilson who signed a long-term deal with the Washington Capitals for over $5 million/season. In fact some were calling for a higher dollar figure using Reinhart's 2017-18 numbers, his higher skill-level and bigger upside. However, as was proved with the 2yr./$7.3 million deal Reinhart and the Sabres reached two months later, nobody really had any "inside" information on the situation.
When talking Sabres unrestricted free agent Jeff Skinner, rumors are flying and a $9 million/season number keeps coming up either at the high end or as the final number. Western New York hockey talk surrounding Skinner centers around whether the Sabres should entertain re-signing a scoring winger to that high of a cap hit.
Skinner's market value is up thanks to his 40-goal season and right winger Mark Stone re-signing with the Vegas Golden Knights to an 8yr./$76 million deal with a $9.5 million cap-hit. Although everyone will agree that Stone adds more to a team on a 200' basis than Skinner, they are contemporaries and both are 27 yrs. old. Skinner had three 30-goal seasons before Buffalo traded for him last off season while Stone had just his first 30-goal season last year. Amongst the points being debated are the values of a one-dimensional goal-scorer vs. and all-around player and the mitigating factors between Vegas and Buffalo which are varied and important as well. The recent successes of each hockey team and the makeup of the organization, the type of city they play in along with the hockey market and the bottom line after taxes are taken out all factor into a players decision and there's no doubt that Las Vegas offers up much more tantalizing package for players than Buffalo but with that said, that, or any other high-profile city might not be the place for every player.
Buffalo, for Skinner, seems to be the place he wants to play for his own personal reasons and the fact that he and his agent are working on the last big contract of his NHL career should be looked at as a big reason for the lengthy negotiations. As for Buffalo, they need to keep good players and build around the small nucleus they have and they shouldn't be haggling over relatively small change. Back in February while the Sabres were in the midst of their struggles it was suggested here that all things considered, we might be looking at somewhere between $8.75 and $9.25 million/season. Arguments raged that Skinner was barely worth $7 million/season for various reasons and that $8 million would be pushing it with some willing to bail on the player for anything more than $8 million/season.
Hogwash.
The goal for Buffalo should be to retain and add talent and it really needs to start with Skinner. The last time the franchise had this big of a decision to make was back in 2007 when they completely blew it with the Chris Drury/Daniel Briere fiasco. No need to revisit that and there's no reason to be squeamish because of past free agent failures.
Although some are likening an $8-9 million cap-hit for Skinner to contracts signed by Ville Leino, Matt Moulson and Kyle Okposo, the styles, numbers and drivers aren't even close. Those squeamish ones are more than willing to pass on Skinner and overpay for another player with less of a proven record (who may not even be a potential Sabres target) or worse, piece together Skinner's 40 goals by suggesting two players scoring 20 goals apiece could add up to 40 and that those players would cost way less. The most frequent name mentioned in a scenario like that is rookie Victor Olofsson who's played in only a dozen games NHL thus far. It's as if there's a tree out back where you can go pick a 20-goal scorer. Where is the tree? Is it next to the top-six center tree? In the same area as the top-pairing d-man or No. 1 goalie tree?
Forget that. The Sabres have a 40-goal scorer in hand and he's worth more than two fictitious ones in the bush. In fact, not only is it the belief here that they should re-sign Skinner, Buffalo should also look at adding more top-six talent. With many teams in a cap-crisis, there will be cap-casualties and they'll come at a discount.
We're hearing a lot of things coming out of Buffalo and with the scouting combine there, it makes for plenty of face to face time with Skinner's agents. For all we know the dollar figure might be set with term, bonuses, overall structure and/or movement clauses yet to be hashed out, but there seems to be a lot of smoke coming out of Buffalo as the NHL Combine has brought the two sides together for plenty of face-to-face meetings.
Prime time to get it done.
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