Breaking: Jeff Skinner waives his no-trade clause

According to a report from Buffalo Sabres insider Lance Lysocki of The Buffalo News, Sabres forward Jeff Skinner has agreed to waive his no-movement / no-trade clause for the upcoming 2021 NHL Expansion Draft.

Check it out:

It's assumed now that Sabres GM Kevyn Adams will leave Skinner exposed for the Seattle Kraken to select, whether or not the Kraken take the bait though remains to be seen. If nothing else, with Skinner waiving his no-move the Sabres have a little more wiggle room to decide who they will and won't protect from expansion. The Sabres may in fact be one of the few teams who choose to protect four defensemen with Rasmus Dahlin, Rasmus Ristolaainen, Henri Jokihaarju and Colin Miller all factoring into things.

Frankly, I don't see the Kraken selecting Skinner as much as Sabres fans may want it to come true. The fact of the matter is that while a change of scenery might do Skinner wonders, his contract is simply too much of a liability to even consider selecting him. The guy is still owed nearly $60 million! Ouch.  He has six years left on a deal that pays him a whopping $9 million per season and he's put up just 14 and 23 points the past two seasons. Double ouch.

The 29 year old Skinner came into Buffalo like an absolute warrior when the team acquired him from the Carolina Hurricanes in 2018, putting up a career high 40 goals and 63 points in his first season with the team. Then-Sabres GM Jason Botteril was quick to sign Skinner to his monster contract extension but the consensus was even back then that the Sabres had massively overpaid to retain Skinner. Flash forward to today and Skinner might have the worst contract in the entire NHL and I'm certain that owners Kim and Terry Pegula would like a 'do-over' on negotiations. But then again... these are the same two owners who were heavily involved in the disastrous contracts awarded to Christian Ehrhoff and Ville Leino. What's the old saying? Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.