If you put Skinner with Crosby it will ensure the Sabres will look bad and even worse than they are now.

50% skinner and a pick from buffalos side

Add Tanev tbh

Do that if I’m pens and watch skinner score 30

if Risto's contract was longer and Skinners shorter, I make that deal.

What a terrible trade for buffalo. Hard pass.

that’s an easy yes for BUF. Skinner at 9 mill is such a horrible contract for them

Matheson is terrible, Zucker has some potential still. But he also has a no trade clause so good luck convincing him to accept a trade to buffalo. I would rather hang onto Skinner and see if we can’t get him back on track.

Matheson is not terrible. He had a very solid season in Pittsburgh. Overpaid, yes. But not terrible. $9 mill for skinner is arguably the worst contract in the league.

Terrible sounds about right with Matheson. Not to mention not only does he also have a no trade clause, but he’s at a position that Buffalo does not need more players. If anything left handed defenders are the last thing buffalo needs more of. It’s a nonsense trade for buffalo. Pittsburgh would actually have to give up something buffalo wants instead of players they don’t.

Terrible sounds about right when it comes to Jeff Skinner. Paying him elite money to only score 7 goals and 14 points. Now that is beyond terrible and embarrassing. The OP made this trade to swap bad contracts, no NHL team gives up valuable assets for a bad contract. Makes no sense why you would say Pittsburgh would actually have to give up something buffalo wants instead of players they don’t. Skinner has a anchor of a contract and Risto is bad himself.

I’m not sure you know what you’re talking about. Skinner had a terrible season largely because Krueger was the second worst Coach in team history (only behind the esteemed awfulness of Ron Rolston, really horrible company to be in). Krueger had a thing against skinner. He played him on the fourth line with players who can’t keep up with him or get him the puck at all. Then, when he isn’t scoring because you’re not playing him with players he can play with he put him in the press box. Even when everyone else was injured he still refused to play skinner with any offensive players. Skinner scored one goal while Krueger was coach, all of the others came after Krueger was fired. That’s not a coincidence to me.

Risto is a top 4 defenseman on at least 2/3 of the teams in the league. Buffalo has used him as a number one defender, playing the most minutes, and always against the other teams’ best offensive players. He’s probably not suited to be a number one pairing guy, but he’d be a fantastic second pairing defender playing 22 or so minutes per game instead of 25 or more. There’s still some small chance that Buffalo intends to hang on to him.

Matheson just doesn’t have a fit on the Sabres at all. They already have more left-handed defenders than they can even use. If you want to talk about them taking on Zucker as a reclamation project, that could be possible. But I don’t see how they would trade for players there isn’t a logical fit for.

And you know what youre talking about based on what exactly? You keep saying Matheson is horrible, but not explaining why? Played in pittsburghs top 4 at 19 min a night, and looked fantastic. You look at his contract, and thats what you formed your opinion on. And just because Riso played the most min on BUF, doesnt mean anything. That team is a dumpster fire. Hes a subpar dman at best

Having seen hundreds of skinner proposals, its pretty clear- skinner plays 2 years for buffalo and then gets bought out. We have to retain probably half (4.5m per), just to get him to "no value", where it costs a 7th rounder for him. Any less retention and we either have to attach something of great value, or take back somebody elses cap dumps just to move him. Matheson is signed for almost 5m for 5 more years, at a position where we have dahlin (first overall), power (likely first overall), bryson (young kid the team loves), kjell samuelssons kid that looks ready, and ryan johnson (late first that took a step in college last year, and our owner is going to want to play to try to prove that we got SOMETHING back in the ror trade). So here we acquire a guy that we pretty much have to move right away, and its going to cost something to move him out. Two more years with skinner and the buyout looks better, which is two years of a rebuild, where the only important thing is not moving futures to make cap room on a team thats gonna finish bottom 3 most likely.

Even if you’re right and Matheson is useful to somebody, it won’t be Buffalo. They already have more left-handed defensemen than they can use. Skinner can still be productive if given the opportunity, that’s probably why Pittsburgh would even consider bringing him in. That’s also why Buffalo would probably still hang onto him, other than the fact teams expect them to retain half his contract just to move him, and that’s ludicrous. You are basing your assessment of Risto on the fact everyone here likes to dump on him, and the team’s lack of success. But I’m sure you know good players play on bad teams too. The premise of this trade is flawed in the first place. Both Zucker and Matheson have no trade clauses and would never accept a trade to Buffalo. Matheson wouldn’t fit in buffalo’s plans, and I don’t think Pittsburgh is ready to sell Zucker for a 3rd round draft pick even if he would accept the trade.

this is soooo bad lmao what on earth is wrong with you?