Buffalo likely accepts

Buffalo says yes

That Skinner contract is a huge risk. I wouldn't take that unless Dubas is confident he is at least an immediate upgrade. He wasn't any better than Rakell or Smith this season and his cap hit is way worse.

I think 2024-2025 Skinner would look more like 2022-2023 Skinner than 2023-2034 Skinner, especially if he plays with Sid.

Part of me wants to take a chance on Skinner because I feel like he could be great with Sid and it would be fun, but the other part of me knows that his contract is atrocious and it is super risky haha..

Skinner would have to say yes. If you told him he would be playing with Sid it would hard to say no. But Skinner holds the cards

Wtf are u guys talking about ???
ZERO CHANCE the Sabres do ANYTHING like that

Totally absurd
We aren’t paying to get Skinner off the roster
No way

I don't know if the contract is atrocious - he's expensive and can't really play defense. However, he can still facilitate offense and is particularly strong at 5v5 offense. He still brings value to a team, just be a lot nicer if he made like 5M instead of 9M

This is exactly how you chase Crosby out the door at the end of the season.

Taking risky moves that burden the team down with cap, the year Crosby is trying to sign a contract extension is not a wise move.
This team has to make level headed decisions. Not show Crosby his career is done and buried here.

I know it's a risky move, but the potential is there. It's a tough contract, but there aren't many guys available who can put up numbers like Skinner. Tarasenko could be an option, but he might prefer to stay in Florida, and his injury history is daunting. Stamkos likely resigns in Tampa. Reinhart is a righty and usually plays center and might ask for a 6+ year deal. All of those options wouldn't come with some sort of compensation either. I think sticking guys like DeBrusk, Mantha, Stephenson, Teravainen, Duclair, would be a severe mistake. If we're interested in still winning, take the risk, it just might be worth it.

While I agree with you there aren't many great options. Sometimes the best option is to not take a bad option.
You can't fix everything in this world. Understanding that is the first step to not digging the ditch you are standing in deeper.