Will The Sabres Serve As Deal Brokers Before The Deadline?
Buffalo has nearly $8 million in available cap space
Will The Sabres Serve As Deal Brokers Before The Deadline?The Buffalo Sabres have a number of players that could be of interest to teams that are Stanley Cup contenders or simply want to make the playoffs, but GM Kevyn Adams is likely going to have to retain salary on these players to make a deal before March 8, something that the club has been hesitant to do in recent years.
Forwards Zemgus Girgensons, Victor Olofsson, Kyle Okposo, Eric Robinson, defenseman Erik Johnson, and goalie Eric Comrie are on expiring contracts. Except for Comrie, these veterans have a cap hit of more than $2 million.
It is likely that Adams will have to retain at least 50% of their cap hits for Buffalo to get any return, especially Olofsson and Johnson, with a salary of $4.75 million and $3.25 million respectively.
There may be one other avenue that Adams can use to accumulate assets and that is to serve as a third party to lower the cap hit for teams with limited cap space. In the deals made between Calgary and Dallas for defenseman Chris Tanev and between Anaheim and Toronto for former Sabre Ilya Lyubushkin, New Jersey and Carolina served as a middleman.
Tanev’s $4.5 million cap hit was lowered to $1.125 million with the Flames retaining 50% and the Devils retaining another 25% for the price of a 2026 fourth-round pick, while Lyubushkin’s $2.75 million salary was lowered to $687,500 for the Leafs by the Ducks retaining 50% and the Hurricanes retaining 25% for a 2024 sixth-round pick.
The Sabres have three retention slots available and will likely use one or two of them to move their players over the next seven days, but the question is will Adams rent some of his nearly $8 million in cap space for 20 or so games and get back a draft pick as some of his NHL counterparts have done?
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