Sabres Sign Skinner to 8-Year Extension

The Buffalo Sabres have signed winger Jeff Skinner to an eight-year contract extension worth $72.0 million ($9.0M AAV).

Skinner was acquired from the Carolina Hurricanes for Cliff Pu, a 2019 second-round draft pick, a 2020 third-round pick and a  2020 sixth-round pick on August 2nd, 2018. During the final year of a six-year contract that paid him $5.725M annually, he led the Sabres while setting a new career-high with 40 goals. The 27-year-old added 23 assists to finish third on the Sabres with 63 points in 82 games.

The Toronto native battled concussion issues early in his career but has been extremely durable over the last four seasons. He has appeared in all 82 games three times and missed just three games total. During that four-year stretch, Skinner is 10th in the league in goals (129) and 49th in points (226) in 325 games.

Skinner is signed through the 2026-27 season and will be 35-years-old when his deal expires. Skinner now represents 10.8 percent of the Sabres’ team cap space, according to PuckPedia.com.

The first-line winger grades out as the No.19 left-winger (Corsica Player Ratings) and spent 70 percent of his 5v5 ice-time with Jack Eichel last season. The duo were impressive together, posting a 51.82 CorsiFor%, 55.21 GoalsFor%, 54.65 ExpectedGoalsFor% and 53.08 ScoringChancesFor%. (per NaturalStatTrick.com)

Sabres Cap Situation

With Skinner now under contract, the Sabres have $17.859 million in projected cap-space with restricted free agents Linus Ullmark, Johan Larsson, Zemgus Girgensons, Evan Rodrigues and Jake McCabe still without contracts. The Sabres’ cap situation is good right now with very few players signed to long-term contracts. As it stands now, only Eichel, Skinner, Kyle Okposo, and Rasmus Ristolainen are signed for three or more seasons. Sam Reinhart, Casey Mittelstadt, and Brandon Montour are all set for new contracts at the end of next season and will command big dollars.