Man got paid.
What’s the general consensus on this deal? I guess the Sabres are going to need to pay to keep their talent, but I’m assuming they’re expecting him to grow into this contract at somepoint?
Not so much grow as maintain his current level of play. He was arguably a top five defenseman last year, which is what he’d need to be with this contract.
He’s elite offensively and has been, but last year he was also excellent defensively, too. If both keep up he should be a Norris nominee multiple times throughout this deal.
Well, glad to see the Sabres are starting (maybe) to show some signs of life.
I’d say the started to last year (only missed the playoffs by one point), but this needs to be the year they actually are alive.
Their core is young but won’t be for long. if the goal is to contend during Dahlin and Tage’s contracts, there needs to be big improvements in the standings starting this year.
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.
