Sabres considering buying out veteran left winger

The Sabres are considering exercising a buyout on the final three seasons of Jeff Skinner’s contract, reports Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet. Skinner has a full no-move clause and is signed through 2026-27 at a $9M cap hit.

Skinner’s tenure in Buffalo has been inconsistent, to say the least, but the timing of a potential buyout is puzzling. Now 32, he’s just one year removed from a career-high 47 assists and 82 points that nearly helped propel the Sabres to their first playoff appearance in over a decade. His line with Tage Thompson and Alex Tuch was one of the most productive in the league, with promising defensive results as well.

But that changed this year. Early-season injuries to Thompson seemed to derail everything for Buffalo, and Skinner was no exception. He didn’t have an awful season by any stretch of the imagination, but he did regress to 24 goals and 46 points in 74 games. 

He averaged 16 minutes per game, slipping into middle-six usage as the trio with Thompson and Tuch was routinely broken up. His 0.62 points per game were his lowest in three years.

It’s still far and away an improvement from when most considered Skinner’s deal the worst contract in the league. In the 2019-20 and 2020-21 campaigns, Skinner had just 21 goals and 37 points in 112 games with a -33 rating, bumping him down to fourth-line minutes. 

His rebound in the later years of his deal has helped repair its value, but he’s still rarely been worth his $9M cap hit over the life of the deal.

That said, the Sabres are still in a transitional phase between rebuilding and contention. They’re not in a cap crunch — yet — and while improving the roster is a necessary undertaking for general manager Kevyn Adams this summer, it doesn’t require dumping Skinner’s cap hit to do so.

A buyout would be a particularly expensive undertaking in the 2025-26 and 2026-27 seasons, just as the Sabres are ideally handing out serious cash and spending to the cap. 

It would cost $1.44M next season, $4.44M in 2025-26 and $6.44M in 2026-27 before a $2.44M annual cap penalty through 2029-30, per CapFriendly.