Sabres general manager looks like a mastermind in hindsight of one major roster move

Sometimes, you absolutely regret signing or acquiring a player, and the Sabres are no exception to that this season. In fact, had they kept this individual, there’s a good chance they still wouldn’t be any better off this year, judging from their play so far this season—their meaning both the Blue and Gold and the forward that once suited up for them.

That player was no doubt quite the entertainer in the City of Good Neighbors, but we can all agree that Jeff Skinner is probably better off suiting up for one of the other 31 teams. Right now, that squad is the Edmonton Oilers, and while they’ve struggled so far in the season’s early going, they were one of the best landing spots for a player looking to finally break into the playoffs. 

So far, Skinner is leading the Oilers in one of the worst statistics possible, the plus-minus, but in reverse. As of Tuesday afternoon, he’s currently at a minus-8, and it’s not like he’s been relevant elsewhere, with just six points and three goals in 19 games. 

Sure, you root for players like Skinner, not against them, and it’s why I’m rather disheartened to be writing an article like this. Skinner has played in over 1,000 regular season games, yet he’s never played in a single playoff matchup, and that drought could ultimately continue this year.

Former Sabres winger could already be on his way out of Edmonton

While I fully expect the Oilers to get consistent and make the playoffs, I don’t expect Skinner to be there. And if that’s the case, it meant general manager Kevyn Adams knew this entire time that Skinner was well on the decline, something that we could have suspected throughout the 2023-24 season when his production dropped. 

Sure, the Sabres are still on the hook for his contract, and that won’t change. But for a team that needs to find at least a solid winger themselves, paying what’s left of what they’re obligated to owe Skinner with the team while he’s in another uniform isn’t a bad trade-off.   

That said, for all of my knocks on Kevyn Adams for not doing enough to better improve the Sabres, he still, at this point, deserves credit for at least letting Skinner walk at the right time. Right now, he looks like a shell of himself, and unless that changes soon, I can see the Oilers moving Skinner to a team further away from a playoff berth than the Sabres in exchange for a halfway-decent scorer.