BUFFALO, N.Y. — Buffalo Sabres general manager Kevyn Adams has said since he’s taken the job that they were going to identify and draft good players, develop them, and pay them instead of a bunch of NHL unrestricted free agents.
For the first two years, Adams had to trade for injured players just to get to the Salary Cap Floor, but he always said they wouldn’t be doing that forever and he has held true to his word.
On Tuesday, Dylan Cozens became the third member of their young core to get paid as he’s been rewarded with a seven-year/$49.7 million contract which starts next season.
That contract is just a shade under Tage Thompson who did the team a huge favor by inking a seven-year/$50 million deal. Cozens will average $7.1 million per season while Thomson is at $7.143 million per year.
Mattias Samuelsson also signed a seven-year contract that in a year or two, will be considered an absolute steal for the Sabres. Samuelsson will get $30 million over the length of the deal which averages out to $4.286 million per season.
It seems like the days of the bridge deals between your entry-level contract and your big money deal are over.
Is Adams taking a risk on these three contracts? Yes, but in my mind it’s minimal. Not many things surprise me, but I would be shocked if Thompson, Cozens, and Samuelsson don’t live up to these deals.
Next season it will be Rasmus Dahlin's and Owen Power’s turn. Erik Karlsson of the San Jose Sharks is the NHL’s highest-paid defenseman at $11.5 million per year. Drew Doughty of the Los Angeles Kings makes $11 million and then believe it or not it’s Zach Werenski of the Columbus Blue Jackets at $9.583 million. In my mind, Dahlin is better than all of them with Werenski the youngest at 24. Buckle up folks, because I see Dahlin close to $12 million per year.
Dahlin will be 23, going on 24 when he’s looking at a new deal.
How contracts are awarded is changing almost monthly in the NHL, so I’m not going to sit here and even guess at what Power might get and for how many years.
How far does all this reach? It depends on development. If you’re thinking long-term, big-money contracts, Jack Quinn and JJ Peterka come to mind as players that have the talent to become big scorers in this league. They certainly aren't ready for the money that Cozens just got, but within a year or two, if they develop the way I think they can, they could get there.
That doesn’t take into account guys like this past year’s first-round picks, Matt Savoie, Noah Ostlund, and Jiri Kulich. Who knows what they can develop into?
Could Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen and or Devon Levi develop into big-money goaltenders?
Speaking of Levi, he backstopped his Northeastern Huskies to an upset win over No. 3 Boston University at the Beanpot Tournament in Boston. For the first time in this tournament’s 71-year history, Northeastern will face Harvard in the final.
Levi’s numbers aren't even close to what they were last year when he won the Mike Richter Award as College Hockey’s best goalie, but they’re still excellent. This season, Levi is 14-9-3 with a 2.32 goals against and .929 save percentage.