The Buffalo Sabres continued pushing forward with their rebuild as they acquired Jeff Skinner from the Carolina Hurricanes in a trade Thursday night.
In exchange for the highly skilled 26-year-old winger, the Sabres sent forward prospect Cliff Pu, a 2019 second-round draft pick, and 2020’s third and sixth-round picks for Carolina.
Adding Skinner to the line-up should complete a pretty incredible off-season for the Sabres. First, they won the lottery jackpot and added Rasmus Dahlin to the blue line. In free agency they added goaltender Carter Hutton to take over starting duties from Robin Lehner. Then in a blockbuster trade with the St. Louis Blues, the Sabres dealt Ryan O’Reilly for Vladimir Sobotka, and Patrik Berglund, prospect Tage Thompson, as well as a first round pick in 2019 and a second round pick in 2021.
All things considered, the rebuild is progressing nicely for the Buffalo Sabres. The aforementioned pieces they’ve added to the puzzle, in addition to players like Jack Eichel, Ram Reinhart, Kyle Okposo, Casey Mittelstadt, and Rasmus Ristolainen, the Sabres are sure to move closer to a playoff spot during the 2018-19 season. To make things better, they also have three first-round draft picks in the 2019 draft which they can use to continue adding high level prospects, or trade away for another core piece to the puzzle.
What are your thoughts on the Jeff Skinner trade? Did Carolina win with the assets they collected, or have the Sabres come away with the upper hand from this trade? Let us know what you think in the comments below!
