On the skein polynomial for links
  We give characterizations of the skein polynomial for links (as well as Jones and Alexander-Conway polynomials derivable from it), avoiding the usual "smoothing of a crossing" move. As by-products we have characterizations of these polynomials for knots, and for links with any given number of components. 
Boju Jiang, Jiajun Wang and Hao Zheng
math.GT