Farewell, Jeff Skinner

The Buffalo Sabres bought out the final three years of his contract and the conclusion is bittersweet and ultimately predictable.

Jeff Skinner addressing the media in September 2019 (Photo: Joe Yerdon)

What at once seemed unlikely and morphed into the inevitable has happened. Buffalo Sabres GM Kevyn Adams said they’ve begun the process of buying out the final three years of Jeff Skinner’s eight-year, $72 million contract and will part ways with him. That was made official Sunday afternoon.

“It's a step-by-step process,” Adams said. “That process was started early (Saturday) morning. (Assistant general manager) Mark Jakubowski, he’d be better in terms of specifics and just the timeline of it, but that was started and that's our intention to move forward.”

In six seasons with the Sabres, Skinner had one of the wildest roller coaster rides a player could have in one place. You could even say his output mirrored how the team went in a way.

Having his career in Buffalo end now like this started to feel like an inevitability a while ago, only that it wasn’t supposed to happen right now. In a year or two, sure, but with three years left it always seemed like it would be too big of a bite for the team to take in regard to how it would be punished against the salary cap. Having six years to pay off the buyout isn’t ideal, even though it ultimately saves the team money.

Now the Sabres are left with a hole in their top-six forward group and must find a way to replace that productivity through free agency or via trade. It’s time for risk management to be put to the test.