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Skinn Abrasion

February 25, 2021, 11:31 AM ET [16 Comments]
Mark Pino
Buffalo Sabres Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Did you know that Buffalo Sabres winger Jeff Skinner ranks seventh in the NHL in even-strength goals (205), trailing only Alex Ovechkin, Patrick Kane, John Tavares, Steven Stamkos, Brad Marchand and Max Pacioretty since the 2010-11 season?




Thanks, Sabres.com

Buffalo Sabres head coach is tripling down on his stern stance with his high-priced winger Jeff Skinner.


For the third straight game, Skinner will be in street clothes. Skinner is not injured. Skinner is being benched for the third game in a row.

OUCH!


Parking a $9 million per year played in the the garage is a costly and bold approach. The fans and media have gotten Krueger’s message loud and clear. One wonders if Skinner has taken Krueger’s message to heart.


Skinner was not skating with the Sabres at today’s morning skate. That is because Krueger sent Skinner to skate with the taxi squad.






Skinner, 28, who has only one assist and zero goals in 14 games played this season, had never been a healthy scratch in his NHL career before Monday night when the Sabres lost to the NY Islanders. On Tuesday night, the Sabres defeated the New Jersey Devils sans Skinner. It’s important to note that Rasmus Asplund, the player that was called up from the practice said to replace him, scored his first goal of the season in the win against the Devils.


"My job every single morning is to continue to try to do what's best for the Sabres with all the information we have," Krueger said. "Every decision is made for the whole, for the group."

Krueger clearly is holding Skinner to the highest standard of excellence. In his career, Skinner has become a very productive and reliable scorer at even strength and on the power play.

"I don’t have a doghouse – I don’t know, really, what that is,” said Krueger, who added this isn’t a disciplinary issue. “My job every single morning is to continually try to do what’s best for the Sabres with all the information that we have and my trusted circle of coaches and Kevyn Adams and the discussions we have. Of course, I’d love to share everything all the time with everybody. You guys know I want to be transparent, but there are certain things that evolve in the development of a team or an organization or a group behind the scenes."

Krueger is not blinking first in this nerve-wracking game of "chicken" with Skinner.


“Every decision is made for the whole, for the group and the mix of our 12 forwards is as complex as it’s ever been because of the taxi squad. We have a huge luxury this year of having multiple extra players around the group, around the team, in practice and we get to see their energy. The way the 12 forwards evolved together the last two games, it’s been for what we feel is best for the group on this given day. Again, my job, combined with the attitude and the work ethic of a player, is to work together to find the potential of the player. May this eventually, when Jeff is called upon again, may we drive him closer to his potential working together on that solution. I would say right now the decisions are more for the players that are in the lineup than against anybody else.”


If the Sabres are going to achieve their goal of making the playoffs this season, they are going to need Skinner to not only score at even strength and on the power play, but also to play dogged defense in all three zones. Skinner has not been playing at his peak level this season. He needs to be better.











Unfortunately for Skinner, there is no Harry Potter solution to this problem that he can can wipe away with a magic wand. Skinner is a high-profile player on a struggling team. He's been playing poorly offensively for the past two seasons. Skinner scored 40 goals in 2018-19, his first season with the Sabres. Inexplicably, Skinner scored just 14 goals last season, the first year of hiss ginormous $72 million, 8 year contract with the Sabres. This season, Skinner is pitching bagels at the score board.

Why? When will the drought end? When will Skinner see the ice again?

My advice to Skinner is to bury his head, watch video, engage the coaches around him, listen 90% and talk 10%. Ask for more help. If he is positive and open minded, this too shall pass. However, if he is pissed off and pig headed about his benching and refuses to put in the work, he ill have only homself to blame for his adversity. All 31 NHL teams are cash poor right now during the worst international pandemic since 1918. It is not as easy as making a trade to give Skinner a new opportunity. No NHL team can afford his monstrous $9M AAV this season or next.



In other words, Skinner is stuck with Ralph Krueger and the Sabres. Might Skinner be heading to expansion Seattle in the future?












**

It was on Tuesday February 2 that Sabres defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen began to feel the wrath of the COVID-19 virus.

Ristolainen, a committed gym rat and physical fitness buff, was so fatigued and exhausted that he to perform normal daily functions like walk up the stairs and walking from one room to the next in his home. Last week, the feisty Finn told a Finnish speaking media outlet that it felt like his heart was breaking in his chest when he was trying to walk up steps in his house.

Ristolainen, 26, is living proof that the novel coronavirus is not an "old people's disease".

Ristolainen's story is a scary one. The veteran defenseman said his initial symptoms faded then he began to feel well again. Then, from out of the blue, he was slammed by another wave of symptoms unlike the ones he had experienced earlier in his bout with the virus.

“So I was kind of feeling, "Hey, maybe it (COVID-19) is over now,’” Ristolainen said. “But then after a few good days it came again with some new weird symptoms.”

On Thursday morning, Ristolainen felt well enough to join the Sabres for their game day skate. Ristolainen will not skate tonight against the New Jersey Devils, however, he told media that he is feeling more and more like himself and that he is close to making a return to action.

Ristolainen's COVID nightmare ended when he was removed from the NHL COVID protocols list on February 16. exactly two weeks after he tested positive.

Ristolainen was one of the seven Sabres players who indeed tested positive for COVID-19. Only Rasmus Dahlin tested negative for the virus.

Ristolainen began skating late last week.

“Right now, I feel really good,” Ristolainen said. “My energy level has been getting better every day since last six days I’ve been skating and working out. So that’s all good. Yeah, it’s been a long three weeks, and really tough the first two weeks.”

Ristolainen knows he needs more time so his body can handle his heavy workload.

“Talking to people who had COVID in the past, I heard it takes some time to get back (to) 100 percent,” he said. “(That was) the shape I was in playing back-to-back games against New Jersey (on Jan 30 and 31), 26, 27 minutes and I didn’t even feel tired. Yeah, I’m not there, but right now I feel I’m really close and I feel really good.”

Ristolainen said he tested positive for COVID-19 at “probably the worst time ever.”

Prior to being infected by the insidious virus on the weekend of January 30 and 31, Ristolainen was earning rave reviews from his critics and media for the best start of his eight-year NHL career when he was averaging 23:34 TOI in the first 10 games of the season.

With his goal on January 15 against Washington, Ristolainen broke a tie with Bill Hajt for the 10th-most goals by a defenseman in Sabres history. Risto now trails Tyler Myers and Jim Schoenfeld by one goal for eighth-most.

Ristolainen’s first assist on January 24 at Washington moved him past Jim Schoenfeld for the seventh-most career points recorded by a Sabres defenseman. He currently trails Bill Hajt by 11 points for sixth-most.

Ristolainen holds the Buffalo Sabres franchise record for most overtime goals by a defenseman (4) and is tied for ninth all-time among the team’s blueliners with six game-winning goals.

Ristolainen’s career per-game output ranks him among the franchise’s top 15 defensemen in every major scoring category (min. 82 GP):

.09 G/GP (14th)
.38 A/GP (12th)
.46 PTS/GP (11th)


“I was feeling pretty good, probably playing some of the better hockey I’ve played here since coming to Buffalo,” the defenseman said. “So it’s even more tough. But all of those things, the way I think about it, it’s just a bump in the road and it’s gonna make me tougher and better.”



Thanks, Sabres.com
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