It's a situation that's having an adverse effect on the salary cap. The NHL and the NHL Players association have a lot of work to do when it comes to figuring out the logistics of the current salary cap and those of the 2020-21 season as well but right now in general terms, rumor has it that the cap will remain at it's present ceiling of $81.5 million for the next two seasons with a very modest increase into the mid $82 million range for 2022-23. A situation like this is forcing many teams with high payrolls and little, if any, cap wiggle room into a huge bind but won't have a daunting effect on the Buffalo Sabres as most of their roster consists of free agents. They have a projected $34 million in cap-space heading into the off season, according to CapFriendly.
However, that $34 million figure worsens a bit as 2019-20 performance bonuses come into play.
Buffalo was looking at cap-overages for this past season which the league will tack on as a penalty in 2020-21. Prior to the stoppage the Sabres may have had 2019-20 cap-overages totaling over $3 million, according to a piece from Joe Yerdon of The Athletic. Yerdon wrote that because the pandemic ended the regular season the Sabres saved $2 million in cap penalties as defenseman Rasmus Dahlin finished just outside the top-10 in assists by defensemen. Had he hit that mark, which was a definitely possibility, his bonus would have been $2 million. As is right now, Dahlin will receive a $850K bonus and fellow d-man Henri Jokiharju will get and extra $425K bringing the Sabres overage to $1.25 million which is slated to come off of next year's cap-ceiling as a penalty for going over.
Although having a full $81.5 million to work with in 2020-21 would have been ideal, working with over $80 million is better than the possible $78.225 million had the season not come to it's early conclusion for Buffalo and Dahlin hit the mark. It's also the third time in the past 18 months that the Sabres have gotten lucky with their cap.
When former general manager Jason Botterill was hired by Buffalo in 2017, he was perceived as a salary-cap guru, among other things. Botterill had been in the Pittsburgh Penguins organization as an assistant to Jim Rutherford and amongst his tasks was trying to fill the roster around five players who took up about 50% of their cap space. In both 2015-16 and 2016-17 Botterill was at the forefront working through that situation and Pittsburgh wound up winning back-to-back Stanley Cups. However, his cap-acumen never really came to fruition in Buffalo, as we see by the cap-overage that new general manager Kevyn Adams inherited.
Although he was saddled with some bad contracts when taking the job, Botterill did himself and the team no favors with some of his trades and signings. The optics of the Ryan O'Reilly trade were bad enough on the surface as Botterill traded away a player for a second-rate package that featured quantity over quality and the player he sent packing ended up helping the St. Louis Blues win their first-ever Cup while claiming the Conn Smythe Trophy as the playoff MVP. O'Reilly also won the Selke Award as the league's best two-way player that season.
Two of the players that Botterill got in return for O'Reilly were forwards Patrik Berglund and Vladimir Sobotka, a pair of mid-bottom roster forwards who combined for a cap-hit of $7.35 million (just $150K less than O'Reilly.) This was on top of the bloated cap-hits he inherited in Kyle Okposo and Zach Bogosian ($11.143M,) both of whom were also playing in the bottom of the roster, as well as two players Botterill traded for--Jason Pominville and Marco Scandella, who combined for $9.6 million. Add in that Jack Eichel was pulling in $10 million and former Carolina Hurricane Jeff Skinner at another $5.725 million and you had a 2018-19 Buffalo Sabres team that was headed towards a cap-overage.
But a funny thing happened while on the way to an impending cap-crunch, Berglund decided he'd had enough and walked away from the remaining three-plus years of his contract worth over $13 million. With Berglund's $3.85 million cap-hit off the books, the Sabres finished just $2.8 million under the cap.
It was the second time under Botterill and then head coach Phil Housley that a player was disgruntled in Buffalo and ended up leaving. O'Reilly famously said he'd, "lost his love for the game" at locker cleanout in 2018, just before he was traded and less than a year later Berglund, who never recovered from being traded to Buffalo, walked away from that huge guaranteed contract. Fourteen months after Berglund's departure, Bogosian voiced his displeasure and was on his way out.
Bogosian came from the Winnipeg Jets in a blockbuster 2015 trade and after initially looking like he could be in the top-four or even a top defensive pairing for Buffalo, he faltered, mostly because of injury. In the six full seasons between the Sabres acquiring him and his departure, Bogosian played in only 249 of a possible 492 games or barely half the potential games all the while sucking $5.143 million/season away from the Sabres cap.
As 2019-20 rolled around Bogosian once again would start the season on injured reserve and when he came back, he didn't feel as if he was getting a fair shake with head coach Ralph Krueger. After being a healthy scratch, he asked for a trade. Buffalo tried to trade him, then they put Bogosian on waivers, but nobody would touch him and his contract. After Bogosian failed to report to the Rochester Americans the Sabres suspended him before putting him on unconditional waivers for the purpose of terminating his contract. His accumulated cap-hit for this season was $3.8 million saving Buffalo his remaining hit, about $1.3 million, in potential overages for 2019-20.
Although new GM Adams has the cap-overage against him this season, Covid-19 and the effects it's having on the league's revenue and salary structure over the estimated next three seasons comes into play when with the possible contract extension of Sam Reinhart.
The 2014 second-overall pick came off of his entry-level deal and signed what turned out to be a very team-friendly 2yr./$7.3 million deal in 2018 and proceeded to post the best numbers of his career with a combined 115 points (44+71) in 151 games (0.76 points/game.) At 24 yrs. old, and dependent upon how he plays it this off season, Reinhart could either be on the road to unrestricted free agency in a couple of years or could cash in on a lucrative long-term deal, dependent upon what he and the Sabres want to do.
As a restricted free agent with arbitration rights, if the proper deal didn't satisfy Reinhart and his agent, they could file for arbitration and take the one-year settlement. He could do that once again after the following season then become an unrestricted free agent in 2022-23. Covid-19 wreaking havoc has the potential to change everyone's thinking as social distancing could effect gate receipts next season with a domino effect making life difficult at least a couple years beyond that. Or at least that's what the NHL seems to be planning on.
Prior to the stoppage in play, the general thought on a Reinhart contract was that of a long-term, 6-8 yr. deal somewhere in the $7 million/season range. Now we're not so sure. With uncertainty hovering over the league, he and the Sabres might be better off with a 3-4 yr. deal and with the salary cap expected to be virtually flat for the next three seasons, a $6 million cap-hit might not be that far off. Reinhart could go the arbitration route, which is brutal for both player and team, and probably come away with that $6 million figure. He could do it again for 2021-22 and maybe come away with a little more or he could sign that 3-4 yr. deal and he could hit unrestricted free agency smack-dab in the middle of his prime.
It's a situation that not only effects Reinhart but all free agents.
