It’s a really good point. Not to mention you could probably get more back to take Skinner than that

Buffalo is already under the cap floor. They would need more salary back to meet the floor

9 picks in the first 2 rounds is insanity 😂😂. Only thing I would be worried about is 6 years left on his deal. If Buffalo even retains $1M and in a few years the coyotes can flip him retaining more it could be a good move. Guess it depends how long they think the rebuild will be

From the AZ perspective. Add not one, but two more 1sts. AZ is a budget team and Skinner easily has the single worst contract in the entire NHL. OR win the Wright sweepstakes and trade Wright away.

Yes, AZ wants picks. Yes, it's a deep draft. 6 Years of an albatross contract is crippling.

Buffalo would have to add or retain.

By the time the Sabres are worried about Skinner's cap hit, he'll only have maybe a year left in his contract. they arent paying to get rid of it and are literally in the same boat as Arizona

makes sense but buffalo are barely scraping the cap floor. buf needs skinner for right now, cap reasons.

Arizona would ask Buffalo what they're smoking, Skinner would take 2 1sts and a good prospect to dump which is why Buffalo is keeping him, and they also need him to sponge up cap space

I'm not so sure it's crippling.

ARZ only has 6 players total under contract for next season. I can't imagine guys like Kessel, Roussel, Eriksson and Beagle will be back. Even if they do come back, It would likely be at a cheaper price then they currently cost. Only 3 RFA players with arb rights, none of which really warrant a massive pay increase. They'll have to reach the cap floor.

That being said, BUF needs to stay at the cap floor as well once they move Eichel and his $10M. For that reason I don't see them doing this deal.

Lol. Why would buffalo do this? We aren't at the floor yet, and it's clear they are going back to tank.

This is nonsense.

Lol no. Why would buffalo do this? There isn't one good reason.

I guess it kinda depends on what is meant by crippling. If a team wants to tank...getting someone that can score 25-30 goals isn't as helpful as Ladd/Eriksson/Roussel/Beagle who don't know how to play hockey. OR if you want to win...eating up $9M in cap space on a guy that only scores 25-30 goals means you up a creek without paddle. I say it's crippling because you're choosing to be stuck in purgatory. Acquiring guys that are half way decent, BUT WAY too high of a cap hit means you're neither tanking nor actually trying to win. So BUF would need to pay up big time.

I don't see Skinner getting traded. He'll get bought out in a couple of years. It's not the worst buyout in the world. Two hard years, but then Approx $2.5M per year afterward is a HECK of a lot better than the Wild's crazy $14M!

Are how many pickssssss do you need to understand you should move outta there
Seriously this team is a joke and should be sold & move to Hamilton or even Quebec !

No thanks. Buffalo will be well below the cap for 3 to 4 years and needs the picks to build our team

Jeff Skinner has a bad contract but it won't mean a thing to the Sabres for the next two seasons and by that time the Okposo contract is done so it probably won't make a different for that third season .

All told, I'd take this if I were BUF. Cap might not be much a concern right now, but there are six years left. t'd still be good to get out of this, and if its at the cost of what will be a mid-to-late 1st and an early 2nd, that's not bad.

BUF still has to sign Dahlin, which is looking to be in the range of mid-$4M to mid-$6M, depending on term. I don't think it'd be too difficult to rope in a third team, maybe TOR, EDM, etc., who would have a contract or two to dump to help BUF (a) reach the cap floor; and (b) recoup a mid-round pick or two. Turris, Archibald, Mikheyev, Komarov, etc. Plenty of options. Hell, 1/3 of the league is over the cap already. You could even change the player going to BUF to be Eriksson or something.

I also think there are a number of UFA's who would be willing to sign a one year deal with BUF, get them to the floor, and likely turn into TDL bait (Anisimov, Neal, maybe Staal).

Point being, I would love to see this, if only because I am rooting for AZ (or wherever they will be) to draft a small nation of players in this draft.

You would be fired if you took this as a sabre GM. This is counter intuitive to what they are currently doing.

Honestly, that sounds like you'd be doing me a favor.

With the mind set of losing a job, in which there are only 32 in the world, furthers the point you'd be a horrible GM

"Horrible GM" seems to be redundant when referring to BUF at this point.

At this point, not really sure there is a way to be counter-intuitive to what they have been/are doing.

Arizona, yes

They can buy him out for 0 draft picks or give up picks in a weaker draft if they were going to be that desperate for no reason. I dont know how "give up 2 or 3 high draft picks to get rid of a contract that doesnt matter on a player that could rebound slightly anyway, only to turn around and help your division rival by taking their bad cap for lesser picks in return" makes any sense in any book.