Thursday, June 25, 2015

Jeff Skinner might be Available I'd go For Him; Maybe Eric or Jordan Staal Are Available Too

Jeff Skinner appears to now be on the trade market as well. Carolina is rebuilding picking in 5th in tomorrow night's draft. They are trying to get another high pick next year as well as possibly re-sign Eric Staal or else move him and brother Jordan and continue to rebuild. I'd take either Skinner or either Staal or take Skinner and maybe even Eric in a salary dump and let him play out one year before he becomes a UFA.

Skinner is a very talented and productive offensive player. He's only 22 soon to be 23 years old so he's just beginning his career really despite being in the league for five seasons already. Skinner was the 2011 Calder Trophy winner as rookie of the year, playing all 82 games and scoring 31 goals at just 18 years old. He's the first player to win the award entirely as an 18 year old since Buffalo's Tom Barrasso did it in 1983-84.

Skinner has had injury problems especially with concussions as he only appeared in 64 games the following season but scoring 20 goals. He had 13 goals in the lockout shortened season in 2012-13 which would have amounted to about 25 goals in a full season. Skinner had a career-high 33 goals in 2013-14 after playing in 71 games after missing games because of a concussion. He regressed to 18 goals, 31 points in 77 games on a terrible Hurricanes team.

I'm sure Carolina would want a lot for Skinner and if I were them, I'd ask for next year's first round pick because if the Sabres miss the playoffs which is likely, they can get a chance at a top-3 pick next year in the lottery. I'm sure they're going to want one of our defenseman either Zadorov or Pysyk and maybe one of our top young forwards. If the Sabres are interested in winning which I think they are, they can't worry about next year's pick or any prospects, which I don't think Tim Murray will.

No comments:

Post a Comment