Kevyn Adams and the need to be aggressive for the Sabres this offseason

Adams said anything is on the table to get it right for Buffalo.

Buffalo Sabres GM Kevyn Adams (Photo: Joe Yerdon)

CHICAGO — By now we realize the Buffalo Sabres offseason each year becomes progressively more important to reaching their goal of returning to the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time since 2011. Each year that hope has been dashed has increased the pressure on the general manager to get things right to end the drought.

It’s the pressure Darcy Regier began when he traded Jason Pominville to the Minnesota Wild and whether it’s been Tim Murray, Jason Botterill or now Kevyn Adams, the first finish line to get across is making the playoffs. Fifty percent of the league makes the playoffs but over the past 13 years the Sabres haven’t been in the right half of the equation.

It doesn't have to be said that the pressure on Adams to get it put together in 2024-2025 is as high as Mount Everest, it’s understood, and to get there he says anything goes, be it via trade, the draft, free agency or even buying out players like Jeff Skinner.

“What I can tell you is from the day our season ended--after my conversations with Terry (Pegula) and kind of where we go from here--every single thing that we're doing this offseason we ask the question, ‘Does this help our team get better,’” Adams said. “Because this put us in a position to improve and we've made a lot of decisions up to this point where we sit today with that in mind and learning continues. So, nothing's off the table. We're going to talk about everything. We're going to look at every scenario.”

Buying out the final three years of Jeff Skinner’s eight-year, $72 million contract more than qualifies as being a major move, should they ultimately do it when the NHL’s buyout window opens Thursday and goes through June 30. Skinner’s been a top scorer for Buffalo, apart from two seasons under Ralph Krueger, while taking on a dead cap hit for six years is a move that’s not entirely unexpected.

Opening a place on the roster for another player while saving a little bit of money immediately in the 2024-2025 season (yet having to take it on the chin in four years to the tune of $6.5 million in dead cap) is something that could be about making savvy moves with the roster…or it’s just NHL accounting and a reason to loudly grouse about it.

It was two weeks ago when Elliotte Friedman shared that talk about buying out Skinner was out there and that there was a possibility it could happen. I’d heard similarly around the same time as well although all messages to find out more went unanswered (naturally). It’s a big decision to make about a star player. Skinner’s a two-time all-star and a 40-goal scorer. He’s scored 30 or more five times.

But now the question becomes: What will Adams do to reinvest the money saved on the lineup and who will slot into the space vacated by Skinner? That’s what we’re going to hypothesize about.