Jeff Skinner rebounded nicely for the Buffalo Sabres last season. Here is a deeper dive into his bounce back season and if he can keep it going.
It’s no secret that last season was a bounce back year for Buffalo Sabres forward Jeff Skinner. After having two down years, he rebounded in a big way last year. In this article, we’re going to take a deeper dive into Skinner’s season and if he can keep it going into next season and in the future.
According to Hockey-Reference, Skinner scored 33 goals and registered 30 assists in 80 games played last year. Looking at his stats, he scored 21 goals during the last two seasons combined. As mentioned earlier, a lot of fans were writing him off. Say what you want to say about his contract but there’s no denying last year was a big one for him.
A closer look at Buffalo Sabres forward Jeff Skinner’s 2021-22 season
A big reason why he had a good season, he actually has talent playing alongside with him. It helps that he also has a coach who knows how to utilize the talent on the team. Skinner found a real chemistry with Tage Thompson and Alex Tuch for a majority of the season which translated into him having a productive year.
Instantly, those three players clicked together and they made a great first line for Buffalo. It was good to see Skinner have a bounce back season because not just Sabres fans, but fans in general were writing him off and saying he wasn’t worth the money.
Now I’m not saying he is or isn’t worth the contract, but we all saw what happens when he has players who are talented playing alongside with him. With all of that being said, it begs the question: Can he not only do it again next season but in the future as well?
The answer, he can. He’s only 30 years old and as long as he has the talent around him, then he can have constant success. Aside from the two seasons where he struggled under Ralph Krueger, Skinner has been a consistent goal scorer, both with Carolina and Buffalo.
It’ll be interesting to see how it plays out but Sabres fans shouldn’t be worried about Skinner because he redeemed himself and put all doubts aside.
(Statistics provided by Hockey-Reference)