Dylan Cozens next contract

[Ducky]

I'd offer him 50m over 8 years.

[Sabres Fan in NS]

8 minutes ago, Ducky said:

I'd offer him 50m over 8 years.

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[DarthEbriate]

1 hour ago, Sabres Fan in NS said:

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It's the Cirelli deal minus the bridge in between.

[Sabres Fan in NS]

13 hours ago, Ducky said:

I'd offer him 50m over 8 years.

 

11 hours ago, DarthEbriate said:

It's the Cirelli deal minus the bridge in between.

Thinking about it and it's not a bad idea at all.  Buys 4 UFA years, I think, and will likely be a bargain by year 4.  Maybe even year 3.

@Curt (I think) is making the point that the Sabres need to try to get at least one good player on a very good contract and two would be even better.

$50M for 8 years for Cozens would be a great deal now that I have thought about it more.

Maybe Power would agree to similar without a bridge deal.

Then the Sabres could give Dahlin his $80M or $90M for 8 years on his next contract.

[DarthEbriate]

The time to lock up the core (whomever they are perceived to be) are the summers of 2023 and 2024. The cap will still be flattish. Once it explodes though, the money will get obscene. If I’m a good young player like Thompson/Cozens who could be great… I’m signing a bridge and betting on myself. I should be able to get silly money in a few years once the escrow ends. 

[Sabres Fan in NS]

15 hours ago, DarthEbriate said:

The time to lock up the core (whomever they are perceived to be) are the summers of 2023 and 2024. The cap will still be flattish. Once it explodes though, the money will get obscene. If I’m a good young player like Thompson/Cozens who could be great… I’m signing a bridge and betting on myself. I should be able to get silly money in a few years once the escrow ends. 

$50M is not silly money ??

I know what you are saying though.

If I am either of them and the Sabres offer me $50M this offseason or next ... I am all over it.  $50M virtually guaranteed is a lot of money and I would take it and not gamble on my future.  I would be still in line for an even fatter contract in 8 years if I am still playing.

[mjd1001]

I still stand by the fact that I think to be a great team, you need to have guys, when they hit their prime, playing 'over' their contract. The only way you do that is to sign them when they are younger and still 'unproven' to long term deals, where the cap number 'overpays' them in the early years to they are out playing that number in the later years.

So, I want the sabres to pick some guys and sign those long term deals now.

So is that Cozens? I don't know. Who else would that be? Again I personally do not know.  BUT Adams, Granato, the scouting staff know many, many more times the info about these players than we do, so I have to trust them to take all that information they know about them, pinpoint the guys who they feel are going to be 'great' in 3-4 years from now and lock them up now.

Its a risk to sign a guy before he produces that much, and its a Risk to let a management team make those decisions and take that chance. But again, I don't want to wait around out of 'fear' of making a mistake.

[LGR4GM]

I really like Cozens. He is big, fast, has good instincts, active defensively, and is a leader. That said, he hasn't earned a massive or long term deal yet. We could argue that you pay him before he earns it to keep cost down but his possession quality needs to go positive, his sh% needs to come up more, and he needs to figure out a way to be a 55pt 2 way player to be really effective. I think he can do that but I might wait for him to do that before talking a long term deal. 

Good news. Everyone in Buffalo spent a chunk of last season trying to figure out Granato's system, unlearning Krueger, getting comfortable in the NHL. This year the majority of the team knows the system. Sure Quinn and Peterka are rookies but the rest of the team isn't and they were all here last year. I think that gives someone like Cozens the ability to grow a bit more this year compared to last year. 

[French Collection]

I go back to the Ryan Kessler comparisons with Cozens. I want him to become that type of player and have  a solid career in Buffalo. 
 

I would wait another year before locking him up long term.