Bosc wrote:
6 years x 9M left! That's insanity!
Tampa bought out Vinny with 7 x 7M after a season line of 39-10-22-32. His buyout cost $32.66M
Buffalo paid a 2nd, 3rd and 6th to acquire him. Buffalo would have to pay far, far more than that in picks and prospects if they want to dump a large chunk of his cap hit.
$37,166,667 cost of buying him out. Buffalo will either live with this for a few more years and then buy him out, or buy him out now.
They're still paying Ehrhoff and Hodgson, I think they're finally clear of Leino though. They've also steadfastly refused to buy out Okposo despite the fact he's been all but a bust for them, so I don't see them forking over the money to pay Skinner to go elsewhere.
I honestly don't think they'd have to pay anyone an exorbitant amount to take the contract--if they retained half, that's a middle-tier scorer at $4.5 million. That's below market value. If he ends up exceeding expectations then I think that's a bet worth considering, especially when you know the cap will eventually go up.
Again, I think he'd bounce back just fine with the right team. The combination of a shitty team with a shitty coach just brought everyone down. I mean, look at what happened to Taylor friggin' Hall FFS! Skinner is simply too talented to continue at the pace he was at last season. And while the contract is onerous it ain't his fault that Botterill was an insanely bad GM who didn't use a single ounce of leverage at his disposal.