Jeff Skinner would be an intriguing Penguins option if he is available
He is expected to be bought out by the Buffalo Sabres.
Word out of Buffalo on Wednesday morning is that the Sabres are planning on using their buyout on forward Jeff Skinner. It is understandable given that his current $9 million salary cap number is probably detrimental to their salary cap situation, and it is probably not a contract that many teams are interested in taking on for three more seasons.
The buyout makes sense from a Sabres perspective because even though they get hit with $4 and $6 million cap hits in 2025-26 and 2026-27, they would get over $7 million in savings this season which will come in handy as they try to end their nearly decade-and-a-half playoff drought.
It would also add another potential scorer into the free agent market, and it is one the Penguins should be willing to kick the tires on if it happens.
While Skinner might be a bad investment at $9 million over the next three years, he would still have a lot of value at a reduced rate and on a potentially shorter contract term.
In all honesty, he looks like this offseason’s Matt Duchene who became available under nearly identical circumstances a year ago, signed a one-year deal with the Dallas Stars, and had a big year to help them finish with the top spot in the Western Conference.
There is no reason Skinner can not be that same player this offseason. At least from an offensive perspective.
Skinner’s game might have some flaws away from the puck, but he does still do one thing extremely well, and it just so happens to be the one big thing the Penguins need.
He scores goals.
A lot of them.
Even though his goal-scoring numbers dipped a bit this season down to 24, that would still be more goals than all but three Penguins players scored during the 2023-24 season. He is also just one year removed from back-to-back seasons with 33 goals goals or more.
The only player on the Penguins roster at this moment with more goals than Skinner over the past three seasons is Sidney Crosby.
I know goals are not the only measure of a player. I know he has flaws. I know he is not a perfect player. He might even be mildly frustrating at times if you have to watch him over 82 games.
But do you know what else is frustrating? Having a team the past two seasons that has one of the largest negative gaps between its expected goals and actual goals, and a team that just finished 19th in total goals scored and 30th on the power play. That is also frustrating.
After spending last year’s free agent signing period bringing in all of the defense-first, offense-last forwards, I would be fine bringing in somebody that has some actual finishing talent, even if they are a flawed player, to give this team some of the goal-scoring juice it needs.
Especially if you can find a way to dump either Reilly Smith and/or Rickard Rakell at some point this offseason.
The Penguins need goal-scorers, and there are not a lot of easy options out there. Jake Guentzel returning seems like a fantasy, and they do not have a ton of obvious trade assets. Skinner might have a market, but it is certainly going to be significantly less than his current $9 million per year salary.
The Penguins should have interest. He can still produce, he fits a need and they simply need more people that can finish. Kick the tires and see what it would take. This would be preferable to another year of Noel Acciari and Matt Nieto in free agency.