Sabres' Jeff Skinner: Staying in Buffalo long term

Skinner signed an eight-year contract worth $72 million Friday night, Lance Lyskowski of The Buffalo News reports.

Analysis:

New coach Ralph Krueger must be the second happiest man in Buffalo on Friday, as 40-goal scorers aren't all that easy to come by. Skinner becomes the second-highest paid Sabre behind captain Jack Eichel, and the duo will try to lead the franchise out of a lengthy playoff drought under the new coaching staff. The Sabres did the smart thing here by figuring out a way to not let Skinner reach the official start of free agency. Oddly enough, Buffalo has the NHL's longest active playoff drought while Skinner owns the NHL's longest active games played streak (661) without appearing in a playoff game. The Sabres were willing to pay up to see if they can break those two unfortunate streaks.