With the Stanley Cup Final over things are going to start picking up and when I say picking up I mean everything is going to start happening

One week from right this moment, we’ll have a Stanley Cup champion, a new HHOF class announced, the awards show done, the draft, who knows how many trades, and most of the top UFAs will have already signed.

One week!

— Down Goes Brown (@DownGoesBrown) June 25, 2024

After a few quiet months the Penguins, and others, are going to be open for business with the draft and free agency looming. Trades and re-signings have been happening, but as we know the lion’s share of movement is about to come.

Starting tomorrow the buyout window will open for teams and while the Penguins don’t really have any buyout candidates, other teams do. One of those teams is the Buffalo Sabres. Jeff Skinner is scheduled to make 9M the next three seasons. Rumblings are that the Sabres are poised to buy him out when the window opens. If they do I think Skinner should be on the Penguins radar.

Skinner has been a fairly consistent goal scorer throughout his career sans the years Ralph Krueger ruined him and stuck him on the 4th line. Skinner quickly proved it was a Krueger problem when he bounced back with 35 and 33 goal seasons the two years after Krueger was fired. Things dipped to 24 goals last season. It was a rough year for a lot of the Sabres goal scorers as they had what was considered a disappointing season where they took a step back when they felt poised to take one forward.

Skinner would bring some finishing prowess to the Penguins forward group that they are lacking. They need winger depth and this would help claw back perhaps a little bit of Guentzel’s goal scoring. Skinner will be entering his age 32 season so it isn’t fool proof. He’s always been light on his feet with great edgework, but also with enough sandpaper to be sniffing around the netfront. If he can retain his edgework and ability to be shifty I think there’s potential for a 25-30 goal year in him. Here’s a snapshot

Overall, he fits the profile of what the Penguins could use more of. Yes, Skinner isn’t going to give you anything defensively. While not ideal let’s not pretend like the Penguins haven’t been acquiring defense first forwards by the boatload the past few seasons. Maybe it is time to lean into what the Penguins identity has been every season they’ve found some success and that is to try and outscore the other team, not out defend.

As a lefty I don’t think Skinner is an obvious candidate to help PP1 get back on track. However, he could probably play the bumper role just fine and it is a role they need to develop better. The more goal scorers the better heading into next season for both the power play and even-strength.

If Skinner is indeed bought out this would provide the Penguins an opportunity to acquire a player with a long history of scoring goals. The contract term will probably be relatively short term and in the AAV neighborhood of Reilly Smith. It is something to think about heading into this busy time of year where the Penguins absolutely have to do better in the offensive minded player department.

Thanks for reading!

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