If you are trading Eichel, no need to take less for dumping skinner. Just keep his contract

Coach don't like him, he wants out, solves several issues in one go while getting back a 24yo top-line power forward and another 1st. Not the worst. I probably need to add a prospect, but I couldn't decide.

My point is if Eichel is gone, you go rebuild mode. In which case Skinners money doesn’t matter and keep him

Unless the Pegulas see the opportunity to unload an extra $42M from their books and they put pressure on the GM (can't remember who the GM is now) to take the deal. I dunno... I'm just cookin up a fantasy scenario. Not really married to it.

Sabres easily decline

Ok might as well sell the Sabres then. Meier is ok, he’s not a replacement for Eichel clearly. You would be telling the fans we suck again (they do anyways) and are starting over. They might not gain the popularity back from trading Eichel for that. So sell the franchise and let someone else worry about Skinners contract

I feel bad now... Botterill really f#cked you guys.

He thinks by taking Skinner (with retention) he can give up nothing for Eichel

It is what it is. Svech looks like a superstar Dahlin just pretty good. McKinnon, McDavid, and Matthews are superstars, Eichel is just a really high star. We just missed out on the years to be really bad. It’s like Crosby and Ovechkin. The other firsts around them were good players, just not them

This makes no sense