I’m not familiar with Buffalo, but that seems really high for a team trying to push for playoffs. If they are confident that the cap is going to start increasing next year, maybe it ends up being a cheaper deal. That ties him with Doughty, which isn’t regarded as a good contract.
I’m a Sabres fan so I’m likely biased, but informed.
The Sabres saved a couple million each on their top 2 centers (Tage and Cozens at $7 mil AAV), so they can afford a couple extra million to ensure their best player is locked up long term through his prime.
The hope is that they will be contenders during the next seven years when their core is locked up, and they can just get the right complementary pieces with whatever cap is left.
The only question marks cap-wise will be Power and hopefully Levi. Otherwise all they’ll need to worry about are depth if they’re ever good again.
