Skinner 3.0

I'd say what a difference a year makes. Only 18 goals going into the season. Cozens has to be pretty happy.

These early huge contracts are going to hit some teams. One thing if it’s a matthews or mcdavid but end of day better to bridge these guys, is Thompson really going to produce at a rate to make much more than this??

I mean, he is on a bridge deal right now.

This deal is an arbitration RFA year and 6 UFA years

To me it seems like a big gamble, but… it also might be management signalling to the other players that they’re ready to make a push sooner than later. Thompson’s young enough and has the tools that this deal could look good in few years with the cap going up, but we’ll see…

Did they learn anything from Okposo and Skinner?

I like the contract. Not Skinner's. It locks up a top six center for the foreseeable future. Thompson is already on a bridge deal and would be looking at a year to UFA status so lock up that 40 goal production for $7MM before that number goes up. He is only going to see much more productive wingers in a year or two. Any one of Krebs, Quinn, or Peterka could quickly become the next point per game forward and move to that first line.

@Archarte
If you have been following my comments for the last three year, you know my mantra, "Big players take longer to develop."
He started to demonstrate his dominance at the end of the 2018-'19 season and into the 2019-'20 season in Rochester with 14 goals in 27 games.
Many players suffered under Krueger but few agonized more than Tage.
Once Granato took over and put him at RW with Mittelstadt at center and Asplund on LW he responded with 7 goals and 11 pts over the final 20 games in the 2020-'21 season.
Playing with really good wingers Skinner then later with Tuch allowed him to shine getting 28 goals over the final 48 games of the season (48 goals over an 82 game season).
Will he exceed 38 goals any time in the next 8 years, I personally would not bet against that.
Well if he is Skinner 3.0, I will certainly accept 33 goals for each of the next 5 or 6 seasons.

Okposo had crazy unlucky health issues. Skinner In his 2 seasons playing top 6 minutes has 73 goals in those years. It was Thompson first full NHL year playing center and he scored 38 goals it will work out well.

I'm one of the few sabres fans that doesnt like thompson, I cringed when I saw this. He doubled his career shooting percentage, gonna be tough to maintain. Hoping he ends up as a decent middle 6 center.

eh if i were them i’d have waited until halfway through the year at least, there’s a chance he makes it look like a steal but also a chance it looks like a terrible deal before it even starts

It depends on how he performs this season. The team is only going to get better so unless his production falls steeply from last season it will be a fine contract, perhaps even a big steal. A tempered expectation for him this season would be between 50-60 points, 25-30 goals. Is that worth 7.1 mil? I'd say that is a bit rich, but he could eclipse 60 points and then I'd say its fair enough

Compared with Thomas, Hischer, Barzal, what Larkin will get, Dubois, I think it’s fair but those other guys are better and have been better longer if you know what I mean.

Think of this as an 8 year contract. $1,400,000 for the first year then $50,000,000 for the next seven $6,425,000 for eight years will appear to be a bargain if he can average 30 goals for the next 5 years.
$6,425,000 is very comparable to the five players mentioned by @xercuses.
Second, do you all remember people would comment on how many times he would miss the net, well he was shooting at the posts instead of the GK crest.
2020-'21, he had 147 SAT, 96 SAG, 31 blocked 21%, 19 wide, over, goal post or cross bar 13%.
2021-'22, he had 457 SAT, 253 SAG, 109 blocked 24%, 95 wide, over, goal post or cross bar 21%
He was shooting for the corners, it is not surprising that his shooting percentage improved.

It's too soon to tell. If he keeps it up it going to be a steal. If he doesn't It's going to make the O'Reilly trade look even worse. I like the chemistry him and Skinner have so he they keep it up it going to be worth it. I see this as another sign the rebuild is over they did not wait to the trade deadline to sign or dump him.

Thanks for sharing those stats. His shooting percentage will likely dip from last season, but I still see him as a consistent 25-30 goal guy. I'd love to be surprised and see him get in the high 30s year-in-year out. He's definitely got the shot power to do so

They learned that it's better to pay for expected performance than past performance. 7 x 7 on a 24 year old is better logistically than 7 x 7 on a 29 year old.