Jeff Skinner, Eric Staal excited to team up as duo with Sabres
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Buffalo Hockey Beat
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During the six years Jeff Skinner and Eric Staal spent together as teammates with the Carolina Hurricanes, they usually skated on separate lines. Back then, the Hurricanes were in the midst of a marathon 14-year-playoff drought. As one of the NHL’s bottom-feeders, they possessed little depth up front.
We were pretty thin,” said Staal, who joined Skinner and the Buffalo Sabres in a trade from the Minnesota Wild on Sept. 16.
They acquired Staal to be their No. 2 center behind Jack Eichel, and through the first two days of training camp at KeyBank Center, he has practiced in that spot between Skinner and Sam Reinhart.
With a guy who has been around that long, it’s easy to play off of him because you know where he’s going to be,” Skinner said of Staal.
Looking forward to that storyline coming to an end,” said Skinner, whose Sabres haven’t made the postseason since 2011.
So it’s wonderful to know when the first hard situations evolve that in that room the right things are being said.”
We were pretty thin,” said Staal, who joined Skinner and the Buffalo Sabres in a trade from the Minnesota Wild on Sept. 16.
They acquired Staal to be their No. 2 center behind Jack Eichel, and through the first two days of training camp at KeyBank Center, he has practiced in that spot between Skinner and Sam Reinhart.
With a guy who has been around that long, it’s easy to play off of him because you know where he’s going to be,” Skinner said of Staal.
Looking forward to that storyline coming to an end,” said Skinner, whose Sabres haven’t made the postseason since 2011.
So it’s wonderful to know when the first hard situations evolve that in that room the right things are being said.”