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2019 NHL Off Season News Thread

Skinner is kinda like Phil Kessel. Top tier goal scoring; defensive liability; cannot play in all situations; not a leader; questionable locker room guy. Buffalo is kinda like the Leafs when they got Kessel. On the outside looking in but always thinking that they're closer than they really are. Kessel was good for them for a while, and then signed a new deal for over 12% of the salary cap and when the Leafs still couldn't make it to the dance regularly, he wore out his welcome and they moved him to a team that needed a particular piece to make them a legit contender. And then he won the Cup twice with the Pens. I could see Skinner following the same arc if the Sabres don't become playoff regulars within 3-4 years. If he's putting up 35 goals in 4-5 years and that $9M cap hit is down below 10% of the cap, the contract could look pretty good to a team that has designs on a deep playoff run, which I doubt will be the Sabres. But then there's the NMC. But by that time, if the Sabres are still muddling around, he'd should waive it to go anywhere with a chance of winning.

Fun fact: The salary cap in 2005-06 was $39M. Wow! It's now $83M. The floor is now $58.8.
 
That is a great deal for Skinner and a horrible one for Buffalo. I know someone earlier said they were not an Eichel fan, but I think he is pretty special and plays a great two-way game. Eichel can cover up a lot of what is bad about Skinner's game. Take Eichel away and try to play Skinner on another line and that deal looks even worse for Buffalo. I think we all agree he is a buyout candidate during the last 2 years of the deal and likely a fan favorite to complain about very soon if he disappears again like the last 2 months of this season. All that said, not sure Buffalo had any other options but to sign him.

Yeah ... I think that's Elsker. I like Eichel, but I'm not sure he's not an Eric Staal kind of "franchise player" in that he's the kind of No 1 center who needs a bit more specific support to really drive the game. Skinner seemed to fit with him pretty well, but I agree with the rest of you guys that Skinner's new deal is ... umm ... stupid expensive for a player as limited as my boy Jeffrey. And yeah, it sets a bar for the market value of offense-first wingers that I'm sure has the rest of the league GMs shaking their heads. It's inflationary to say the least.
 
No, not me. I have no opinion on Eichel.

Do pity him a bit. *cough*Buffalo*cough* But no opinion. :sarcasm
 
"Obviously, I know there's expectations and what my job is, and my job is to produce," Skinner told The Associated Press by phone Saturday in his first interview a day after reaching the deal.

Yes... but like a bunch of folks have already said here, it would be nice if you learned to play better defense as well, Jeff.

There's another 40-goal scoring Geoff who learned that lesson when he was sent to Buffalo 20 years ago and helped get them to that aforementioned "in the crease" moment.
 
Rumor has it, the Ducks would like to move Corey Perry('s contract). Traded or buyout being tossed around. I think he has 2 years at 8.something left.
 
Rumor has it, the Ducks would like to move Corey Perry('s contract). Traded or buyout being tossed around. I think he has 2 years at 8.something left.

Rumor also has it that every team with bad contracts on players in decline would like to wave a magic wand and make them go away. It's time for the rest of the league to stop helping them do that.
 
Rumor also has it that every team with bad contracts on players in decline would like to wave a magic wand and make them go away. It's time for the rest of the league to stop helping them do that.

Why? If it's one team's interest to take on a crap contract (with the trading team retaining money, preferably) and get another valuable asset in the process, like a prospect or a draft pick, have at it.
 
Why? If it's one team's interest to take on a crap contract (with the trading team retaining money, preferably) and get another valuable asset in the process, like a prospect or a draft pick, have at it.

Example A, taking on Bickell’s contract to get Teravainen for 2 picks.
 
Why? If it's one team's interest to take on a crap contract (with the trading team retaining money, preferably) and get another valuable asset in the process, like a prospect or a draft pick, have at it.

Yeah, but that's not always been the case now has it? Even in Carolina's case everybody points at Terravainen's deal but conveniently forgets the other dreck we took off of Chicago's hands for little to no value to the Canes. Bottom line ... if you're going to bail out a Max Cap team, make danged sure they pay for it with quality going out. Not that nonsense Phoenix did for Chicago taking on Hossa's contract in exchange for a a bag of magic beans and a 3rd round pick.
 
Yeah, but that's not always been the case now has it? Even in Carolina's case everybody points at Terravainen's deal but conveniently forgets the other dreck we took off of Chicago's hands for little to no value to the Canes. Bottom line ... if you're going to bail out a Max Cap team, make danged sure they pay for it with quality going out. Not that nonsense Phoenix did for Chicago taking on Hossa's contract in exchange for a a bag of magic beans and a 3rd round pick.

If the market value for taking Hossa’s contract was a 3rd rounder then that was fair value. You may think teams should pay a higher price for getting cap relief, but that doesn’t set the market.


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If the market value for taking Hossa’s contract was a 3rd rounder then that was fair value. You may think teams should pay a higher price for getting cap relief, but that doesn’t set the market.


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My point is that the market bar has historically been set too low ... at least for my tastes. There's no obligation to help these big spenders out with any relief at all. And 90% of the time the small market team doing the helping doesn't get anything of real value out of it. The one time it worked out well doesn't stand up for every one of the deals. Rather than take that third rounder, why not just let that team stew in its own mess? After all, they made that mess willingly by throwing around money that small market teams don't have.
 
Yeah, but that's not always been the case now has it? Even in Carolina's case everybody points at Terravainen's deal but conveniently forgets the other dreck we took off of Chicago's hands for little to no value to the Canes. Bottom line ... if you're going to bail out a Max Cap team, make danged sure they pay for it with quality going out. Not that nonsense Phoenix did for Chicago taking on Hossa's contract in exchange for a a bag of magic beans and a 3rd round pick.

The dreck we took off Chicago’s hands for Teravainen was Bryan Bickell, who was a serviceable but overpaid 4th liner until his MS symptoms forced him to shut it down.


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The dreck we took off Chicago’s hands for Teravainen was Bryan Bickell, who was a serviceable but overpaid 4th liner until his MS symptoms forced him to shut it down.


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Yeah ... again with that same deal. Which was a good deal no matter how you slice it.

We also took on Versteeg, Nordstrom and Kruger as cap refugees and got a big pile of meh from all of that. Kruger was a huge problem, and the other two did kinda/sorta OK ... but taking on somebody's cap problem was an annual Ron Francis move.
 
That Hossa deal though at the time was valuable for the Yotes. That was free cap hit with no actual money being paid. That allows you to get to the cap floor without paying out cap floor money. So yeah, helpful to Chicago but helpful for the Yotes too
 
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