The Buffalo Sabres are moving into dog days of summer with a surprise trade announced Thursday of this week.
Buffalo acquired Jeff Skinner from the Carolina Hurricanes for a prospect, Cliff Pu, and three draft picks over the next two years.
“We’re extremely excited to have Jeff on board,” Sabres general manager Jason Botterill said. “I respect his work ethic a lot off the ice, his professionalism, how he handles himself. He comes to training camp in great shape, a true professional. From that standpoint, we’ve talked about our group being more competitive, playing with more pace. That’s right up Jeff’s game right there.”
Skinner will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of this season. One can only imagine Skinner would have been gone from Carolina next season and the Canes opted for an early solution to gain some youth in the lineup.
“I don’t know what (Skinner’s contract demands) were going to be because we never had those conversations, but for Jeff, I think he was looking for a fresh start too,” Waddell said. “He’s going to a place where he’s going to play with some very good top-end players. He’s a Toronto native. He had a full no-trade clause. Buffalo was always a team that was very high on his list.”
Skinner, 26, had 24 goals and 49 points through a full schedule last season.
Hurricanes general manager Don Waddel was reported to have said there were no offers made to extend Skinner with Carolina.
“This is the longest I’ve ever worked on one player (trade),” Waddell said. “We just never felt like we were getting value. We just said we were going to keep the player and see how things go. Finally, we got comfortable with the player and the draft picks we were going to get.”
The Canes get Pu who iced for the Kingston Frontenacs and London Knights of the Ontario Hockey League. In 65 games, Pu had 29 goals and 84 points on the season.
The Canes appear willing to wait for Pu to develop physically before making a push for a spot on the club.
“He needs to get bigger, stronger,” Waddell said. “Skates well, great hockey sense, and he put up big numbers. But it’s a big step from junior hockey to the NHL, so to expect him to make that jump this year might be tough, but certainly he’s a guy, looking at his track record, he’s always been able to score at every level he’s been.”
The question is what are the Hurricanes looking to accomplish. They have $18+ million in cap space and can afford to spend on quality players.
“We wouldn’t be making these moves if we didn’t think the players we have in place can do it,” Waddell said. “If we picked at No. 11 in the draft, we may not be talking about this. But being fortunate enough to go No. 2 and pick up Andrei (Svechnikov), and watching (Martin) Necas in the World Championships and knowing he’s going to be a player that’s ready to play in the NHL … the decision isn’t made in one day. It’s made on what’s happened through the entire offseason. We felt we got to the point where we’re very comfortable with our forwards and we could afford to move Jeff on.”
Andrei Svechnikov (2018 No.2) and expect forward Martin Necas (No. 12 in 2017) are the Canes’ top prospects.
How the Canes navigate the next few weeks will tell a great deal about the coming season.
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