Navigating the salary cap is one of the most important tasks for a front office. Teams that can avoid total cap chaos by walking the tightrope of inking players to deals that match their value (or compensate for future value without breaking the bank) remain successful. Those that don’t often see struggles and front office changes.
PHR is looking at every NHL team and giving a thorough look at their cap situation for the 2024-25 season. This will focus more on players who are regulars on the roster versus those who may find themselves shuttling between the AHL and NHL. All cap figures are courtesy of PuckPedia. We’re currently covering the Atlantic Division, next up is the Sabres.
Buffalo Sabres
Current Cap Hit: $82,494,010 (under the $88MM Upper Limit)
Entry-Level Contracts
F Zach Benson (two years, $950K)
F Jiri Kulich (three years, $886.7K)
F JJ Peterka (one year, $855.8K)
F Jack Quinn (one year, $863.3K)
Potential Bonuses
Benson: $650K
Quinn: $850K
Total: $1.5MM
Benson had a solid rookie season last year after somewhat surprisingly making the team out of training camp. However, his per-game output has actually dipped this season which isn’t ideal and has him on pace to miss his ‘A’ bonuses. At this point, it would be surprising to see the Sabres prioritizing a long-term deal on his next contract; a bridge pact with an AAV around the $3MM mark is the likelier outcome. Kulich is just starting out in the NHL which makes his next agreement difficult to forecast. Based on his early production though, he’d be trending toward a bridge deal as well.
Quinn is someone who Buffalo likely hoped would be a candidate for a long-term pact but injuries last year didn’t help in that regard, nor have his struggles this year. A bridge contract could still land around the $4MM mark, however, and with there still being some uncertainty about him, it makes sense for both sides to lean that way. In the meantime, he’ll need to pick up the pace offensively to have a shot at any of his ‘A’ bonuses. Peterka is someone who should get consideration for a long-term deal, however. After putting up 50 points last year, he’s on pace to beat that this season and has established himself as a legitimate top-six winger. With another big increase in the salary cap coming, there’s a chance Peterka could become their highest-paid forward, surpassing the $7.15MM mark on a long-term agreement.
Signed Through 2024-25, Non-Entry-Level
F Nicolas Aube-Kubel ($1.5MM, UFA)
D Jacob Bryson ($900K, UFA)
D Bowen Byram ($3.85MM, RFA)
D Dennis Gilbert ($825K, UFA)
F Jordan Greenway ($3MM, UFA)
D Henri Jokiharju ($3.1MM, UFA)
F Ryan McLeod ($2.1MM, RFA)
G James Reimer ($1MM, UFA)
F Jason Zucker ($5MM, UFA)
Zucker has been a very nice pickup in his second straight year of playing on a one-year pillow contract in the hopes of restoring his market value. The last one didn’t go so well but this one has as he’s playing at an offensive pace close to his career year back in 2017-18. That should help his chances of securing at least a multi-year agreement this time around. However, because of his age (33) and his inconsistency with other teams in recent years, Zucker may be hard-pressed to command top dollar on that multi-year deal. Instead, that deal might not cost a whole lot more than what he’s getting now if teams have any doubts about his ability to fit in with them based on what happened elsewhere.
Greenway has shown flashes of being an impact player since being acquired two years ago but staying healthy has been a concern. Nonetheless, a 6’6 power forward is going to garner plenty of interest on the open market. Missing more than half the season so far with injuries won’t help his cause but even with that, a small increase in pay and another multi-year agreement should be coming his way.
McLeod has fared well in his first season since coming over from Edmonton and is nearing his career highs offensively from last year. Assuming he reaches those thresholds, the improved production and arbitration eligibility could push him closer to the $3.5MM range on a contract that buys a year or two of team control. Aube-Kubel has had some success as a fourth liner in the past but that hasn’t happened yet this year. He had enough of a market to garner more than expected last summer but recently cleared waivers and was sent to the minors where he still partially counts against the cap. As a result, his next deal seems likely to come in close to the minimum salary.
Byram is the headliner among the defensemen. He’s on pace to shatter his personal bests offensively, plays in all situations, and has stayed healthy which is notable for someone with his concussion history. While the Sabres could opt for another short-term deal, the likelier outcome is a long-term agreement. With his output this season and arbitration rights, that could push his price tag into the $7MM range. Can they afford that long-term with two big deals already on the books on the back end? That’s a decision they’ll have to make.
Jokiharju has seen his stock fall sharply. He’s no longer in Buffalo’s top four on the back end and his level of play has suffered for it, hardly ideal heading into his first trip through unrestricted free agency. Still, he’s going to be a rare 26-year-old UFA (thanks to reaching seven years of service time) and is a right-shot player who has logged 20 minutes a game in the past. Accordingly, even with his decline in performance, he could still come in pretty close to this price tag in July. Bryson took a greater than 50% pay cut to stay with Buffalo in the summer and has had a very limited role thus far. With that in mind, he’ll likely stay around this price point as will Gilbert who has played even less.
Reimer was originally signed to be the veteran third-string option but after being reacquired on waivers early in the season, the plan changed and he stayed in Buffalo while Devon Levi went to the minors to play more minutes. (While Levi has gotten a spot start here and there since then, he’s not on the verge of meeting any bonuses which is why he wasn’t mentioned with the entry-level players.) Reimer has played limited minutes and is more of a lower-end backup or third-string option so he could wind up coming closer to the league minimum of $775K next time out.
Signed Through 2025-26
D Connor Clifton ($3.33MM, UFA)
F Peyton Krebs ($1.45MM, RFA)
F Sam Lafferty ($2MM, UFA)
F Beck Malenstyn ($1.35MM, UFA)
F Alex Tuch ($4.75MM, UFA)
Tuch was a legitimate top-line point-per-game player in 2022-23 but hasn’t been able to produce at the same level since then and his numbers are down again this year. Even so, he’s still an all-situations player in a prominent role while making second-line money. Even with the drop in scoring, he’d likely pass the $7MM mark if he hit the open market today, a number that would only go up if he gets back to his level of production from a couple of years ago. Lafferty was brought in as part of the revamp on the fourth line and hasn’t been as impactful as the team expected. If that continues into next season, a small cut in pay seems likely though his overall track record is good enough to prevent him from facing any sort of steep drop.
Krebs hasn’t been able to become an impactful producer just yet at the NHL level. One of the key pieces of the Jack Eichel trade, he has been more of a depth middleman than a top-six center of the future. He’s at least doing better than last season which should buy him more rope from a development perspective but it’s hard to see him landing a long-term agreement on his next deal if this continues. But with arbitration rights, doubling his current price tag is doable. Malenstyn was the other player brought in to change up the fourth line and has fit in well in that role while playing less than he was in his career year with Washington last season. If he remains a prominent hitter, he could push past $2MM in 2026.
Clifton’s contract was a bit of a headscratcher at the time and it hasn’t panned out thus far. Being a right-shot defender certainly helps his value but being limited to third-pairing duty doesn’t. Assuming he stays in this role moving forward, he might land closer to $2.5MM next time out, even with a higher salary cap by then.
Signed Through 2026-27
None who aren’t on an entry-level contract.
Signed Through 2027-28 Or Longer
F Dylan Cozens ($7.1MM through 2029-30)
D Rasmus Dahlin ($11MM through 2031-32)
D Owen Power ($8.35MM through 2030-31)
D Mattias Samuelsson ($4.286MM through 2029-30)
F Tage Thompson ($7.143MM through 2029-30)
Thompson’s contract seemed risky at the time considering he only had the one breakout year. But he followed that up with an even better showing in 2022-23 and after a down year last season, he’s close to the point per game mark in 2024-25. Having a top-line middleman locked up at this price tag is certainly well below market value and taking the risk with the early extension in 2022 has yielded a nice reward. The same can’t be said for Cozens, however. He signed his deal when he was in the middle of a career year, one that saw him put up 68 points in his second full season. But his output dropped sharply last year and is down again this season. Even if he can get back to second-line production, this deal should hold up okay but he has some work to do to get there.
Going with a bridge contract worked out quite well for Dahlin. After his entry-level deal ended following his quietest season yet, the two sides opted to do a short-term second contract, one that saw Dahlin become a three-time All-Star and become one of the better offensive blueliners in the league while stepping into a legitimate all-situations number one role. With only one year of club control left coming off his bridge agreement, Dahlin had the hammer and was able to make himself one of the highest-paid defensemen in NHL history. It’s a lofty deal to live up to and it’s hard to think it could be called a bargain but if he keeps playing as he has in recent years, they’ll do just fine with his contract.
While Buffalo went the bridge route with Dahlin, they didn’t with their other top pick on the back end, handing Power one of the priciest post-ELC deals given to a defender. His first two NHL seasons were pretty strong and his output pretty consistent. For his role and output now, the deal is a little on the high side but as is often the case with these contracts, the expectation is that the contract will become team-friendly before too long as he continues to improve. Samuelsson signed this deal when he only had 52 career NHL games under his belt with the club hoping he’d become a lockdown defender at a below-market price before long. That hasn’t exactly been the case as he has spent a lot of time on the third pairing and has even been a healthy scratch this season. He’s only 24 and can turn it around still but this feels like a deal they might like to try to get out of.
Buyouts
F Jeff Skinner ($1.44MM through 2025-26, $6.44MM in 2026-27, $2.44MM from 2027-28 through 2029-30)
Retained Salary Transactions
None
Best Value: (non-entry-level) Tuch
Worst Value: Samuelsson
Looking Ahead
GM Kevyn Adams wasn’t able to spend much over the offseason despite plenty of efforts to do so, meaning Buffalo entered the season with ample cap space and they’ve banked lots more since then; they project to have over $25MM in room before the trade deadline. That has them well-positioned to add if they want to try to make a splash or to perhaps act as a facilitator and add some money that way depending on how much budget space they have.
Turning to next summer, the Sabres have a little over $62MM on the books, giving them around $32MM in space to work with. RFA deals for Byram, Peterka, and Quinn will eat up more than half of that while they’ll want to retain or replace Zucker as well but there will still be enough flexibility to try to take a swing and add a core piece again. As far as cap situations go around the league, theirs is one of the cleanest overall.
Photos courtesy of Imagn Images.