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The Jeff Skinner melodrama is officially over. On the one hand, you can say good for the Sabers and the general manager, Jason Botterill.
On the other hand, what else could they do?
The Sabers had to pay Skinner. And with $ 9 million per season for eight years, it's an overpayment at least for now. Skinner can reimburse the team with just over 30 or even 40 seasons to make it look like a good investment, and the likely increases in the salary cap – which could exceed $ 90 million over the next three years – will make less expensive investment on Sabers over time.
The whole situation took a lot longer than expected, but both parties have been cautious since Skinner arrived last fall. They put a new deal into discussion by ensuring that the player and the organization know each other well during the first half of the season, which has been much better than expected.
Then, both teams clearly researched the team while the goal fell for the team and the player in the second half. It was reasonable for Skinner to wait to see who Botterill had been hired as a coach and to have a meeting with Ralph Krueger before agreeing to the terms of the contract.
And it was reasonable for Botterill to look at all the ramifications of a big problem for Skinner, when you consider that he has now blocked $ 19 million of his funds for his top two forwards (Jack Eichel and Skinner) and mega pay from Rasmus Dahlin. is looming in a few years. Not to mention the possibility of a good sized deal for Sam Reinhart.
Still, there was no chance that Botterill let Skinner go. You do not replace these goals in self-service – what key name is assigned to Buffalo right now? – and the success of public relations would have been disastrous for a season ticket base already faltering.
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Botterill must have felt the same pressure as Darcy Regier in 2007 when the former general manager compared the Edmonton bid sheet to Thomas Vanek. Revisionist historians say the Sabers should have accepted all four Oilers first-round picks and let Vanek go, but forget that it was a team that had just won two consecutive Stanley Cups after Daniel Briere left. and Chris Drury.
At that moment it was impossible for Regier to give up his fans and for Botterill. Especially with Ryan O'Reilly who plays for the Stanley Cup in St. Louis after the stupid sale of one of the main players by the general manager last summer.
Botterill constantly pushed the story – flawed in those eyes – that O 'Reilly's trade was what allowed him to negotiate for Skinner a month later. So how could you justify this job now if you let Skinner go? You could not.
Skinner had all the assets here. The Sabers were expecting a lot from him when Carolina threw it on their lap and they understood it. So they did not expect to have to pay for a new contract? Botterill knew exactly what he was getting into.
You pay your best players. It's the cost of doing business. And in the NHL, scorers with 40 goals receive a salary, P capital, intentional. Maybe Skinner will never be 40, but he's probably good at a constant goal of 30-35 for several years.
In the past four seasons, Skinner is tied for third in the NHL with goals at equal strength. Patrick Kane is the leader with 113, Alex Ovechkin has 112 and Skinner is tied with John Tavares and Vladimir Tarasenko in 106. It's one more than Connor McDavid, four more than Brad Marchand, five ahead of Nikita Kucherov and seven in front of Sidney Crosby.
It is out of the question that this franchise can simply let this type of production work without anything.
Remember that Skinner had already scored 50 goals well during the 2019 season until he lost touch and has more than one goal in 22 games.
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You wonder how bad Skinner was in March, when he scored only one goal on 54 shots for a derisory percentage of 1.9. Because for the rest of his season, the goals went freely. Skinner shot 17.6 percent in October, 28.6 percent in November, 15.4 percent in December, 14.3 percent in January, 10.2 percent in February, and 37.5 percent in all three matches. team held in April.
Of course, if Skinner does more in March, the Sabers will probably win more than two games and there is a good chance Phil Housley will still be their coach.
And one concern you can have is the contract year hump. Skinner had a career high in terms of goals and percentage of shots (14.9) in a season when he was trying to get paid. But as Skinner begins his 27-year season, Botterill should simply seize the opportunity for Skinner to duplicate this production and perhaps prove even more valuable to a better team.
For all that money, of course, it would be nice if Skinner was a better two-way player and maybe it's an area that Krueger could help improve. Housley would not play Skinner a lot in the 3-on-3 overtime and two sore turnovers in the extra sessions validated his point even as the fans screamed.
But as the Sabers continue to build, they need to keep their high-end talent as much as possible and gain more through trades or repechage. To let Skinner's production go away simply can not be allowed.
This team was bad enough last season, is not it? What would it be like without Skinner in his group of attackers?
It's a scary thought, that Sabers fans do not have to ponder anymore.
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