Sabres Announce Owen Power Extension 7 years, 8.35 Million AAV

[Randall Flagg]

3 minutes ago, Curt said:

It’s a risk.  Just like the Thompson, Cozens, and Samuelsson contracts were.  Could end up a slight overpay, or could end up a bargain.  It is quick, but it’s what you have to do if you want to try for those bargain contracts.

This one is just in a different boat for me, because I saw more seasons and a higher level of play from both 72 and 24 (though Cozens isn't too far off, though he's cheaper than Power), and Samuelsson just wasn't nearly as much money

I'm not complaining, it just better work : ) 

[Taro T]

6 minutes ago, Randall Flagg said:

Dahlin was making 6 million per year until after he was a top 10 Norris finalist 5 years into his career, Owen Power has inked a deal with an AAV > 8 mil before I've ever seen him play better than a standard 2nd pairing guy around the league, with plenty of nights where he looked worse than that. It's just so quick haha. Dude has played like 80 games

Again, I understand that this is "what you do"

The flip side of it is if he doesn't come close to his ceiling, his floor is still probably Tyler Myers who's a $6MM D-man.  If the worst you're sitting at is $2.35MM of an overpay with no other retained money or buyouts cutting into the cap, it doesn't really hurt.

The potential upside of this is way higher than the potential downside IMHO.

[Getpucksdeep]

So Power is 2 years younger than Dahlin and making 25% less money than him for the next 7/8 years.  If I'm in Power's camp and I believe the upside is being in the Norris convo as well, I think I want a smaller gap there.  I wonder if they are thinking long, $58m this contract and 8 x 13m or something next contract = >$160m total, that will get the job done.

 

[LGR4GM]

Hmm, it carries some risk. Power has to keep improving for it to be worth it. Beware a sophomore slump though won't represent who he really is. 

1 minute ago, Getpucksdeep said:

So Power is 2 years younger than Dahlin and making 25% less money than him for the next 7/8 years.  If I'm in Power's camp and I believe the upside is being in the Norris convo as well, I think I want a smaller gap there.  I wonder if they are thinking long, $58m this contract and 8 x 13m or something next contract = >$160m total, that will get the job done.

 

Impo, Dahlin will always be at a level above Power.

[Randall Flagg]

3 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

Hmm, it carries some risk. Power has to keep improving for it to be worth it. Beware a sophomore slump though won't represent who he really is. 

Impo, Dahlin will always be at a level above Power.

And really, OP is still so young that he could go on a 4 year swoon and still wind up an elite multiple-Norris-trophy D-man. Think of the mountains Dahlin has traversed, and he's still only like 23 years old

[Doohickie]

43 minutes ago, Buffalo Sabres Fan said:

Hopefully all these long term contracts workout for the Buffalo Sabres time will tell in my opinion. Go Sabres! Let’s Go Buffalo 

Counting Muel they now have 5 long term contracts.  If one misses and the other 4 work out, I'd say Kevyn is ahead of the game.

[Zamboni]

[Doohickie]

44 minutes ago, Turbo44 said:

Try to remember how Dahlin looked at 19 and how he looks now.

To be honest, Power at 19 played at least as good as Dahlin at 21.  Dahlin will be ahead Power probably for most of their careers but only because Dahlin is older.  Power and Dahlin with both get better and better until they plateau and then in my mind it's a toss-up in terms of who will have the higher ceiling.

[Getpucksdeep]

5 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

Hmm, it carries some risk. Power has to keep improving for it to be worth it. Beware a sophomore slump though won't represent who he really is. 

Impo, Dahlin will always be at a level above Power.

Right, admittedly I was firmly in the "Dahlin to Amerks" rage camp a couple years ago.  And I my money is same, in the end Dahlin>Power. I suppose 25% isn't fair/proper way to look at it, similar to executive pay or something.  Like so Power is 50% more than Mule, not linear.

[LGR4GM]

11 minutes ago, Doohickie said:

To be honest, Power at 19 played at least as good as Dahlin at 21.  Dahlin will be ahead Power probably for most of their careers but only because Dahlin is older.  Power and Dahlin with both get better and better until they plateau and then in my mind it's a toss-up in terms of who will have the higher ceiling.

18yr old Rasmus Dahlin was better than 19yr old Owen Power while Dahlin played on a worse team. 

At 20 Dahlin was playing for a coach that was *****, he had Skinner on the 4th line and Dahlin looking like a glorified 4th defender. Ralph Krueger years are void and not comparable because EVERY single member of the Sabres was trash during those 20 months of futility. 

Rasmus Dahlin is better and will continue to be better than Owen Power. Rasmus has a higher ceiling, period. There's just some revisionist history going on. 

Edited October 12, 2023 by LGR4GM
Dahlin was 20 when he played for Barf Krueger

[Doohickie]

41 minutes ago, SHAAAUGHT!!! said:

Can he play the trade deadline and FA market correctly for the team we have going forward?

Can he?  Yes.  Will he?  Probably once or twice he'll make a big splash at the deadline or in FA.  But his style is to make incremental, steady improvements, the kinds of acquisitions that the league will barely notice, but they will make the team better both in the short term and over the long haul.

[French Collection]

4 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

Impo, Dahlin will always be at a level above Power.

I think he is smart to take this money.

The chances of Power getting lots of points is lower with Dahlin around than if he was top banana on another team. Dahlin will get more PP minutes and the higher talent level of PP1.

Power’s ceiling is high and I think he will be good value in a few years. Seth Jones and Darnell Nurse make more and have already peaked. Power will be better than those guys in a year or two.

He has bought into this team and now he needs to work to improve his game and become the Dman that can shut you down and transition the puck into an offensive opportunity.

KA now has more cost certainty for the long term and can build around this core. If half of the top prospects become NHLers, there is money available. The cap has to take a jump soon, and KA still has some dry powder.

[LGR4GM]

Let me put it this way. Owen Power is going to be a solid #1 defender on most playoff teams. That would be his ceiling. Rasmus Dahlin has the ability to be a gamebreaker on a contending team. There is just an extra level of skill and ability that we have yet to see from Power. 

[French Collection]

2 minutes ago, Doohickie said:

Can he?  Yes.  Will he?  Probably once or twice he'll make a big splash at the deadline or in FA.  But his style is to make incremental, steady improvements, the kinds of acquisitions that the league will barely notice, but they will make the team better both in the short term and over the long haul.

I’m worried he won’t pull the trigger for a good 4/5 Dman because it would mean Bryson going to Rochester. Seriously, he can’t fall in love with his players, just because they want to be in Buffalo or are popular with teammates.

[Scottysabres]

That's actually good term and AAV. Well done Kyven, we'll done.

[FrenchConnection44]

Great discussion here. 
 

 

[Doohickie]

1 hour ago, RangerDave said:

Great.  Now I'm going to be worried for the next 6 years wondering how we are going to re-sign all of these perennial all-stars in 2030.  Thanks a lot!

Don't worry.  By then the cap will be up to $172 million.

1 hour ago, FrenchConnection44 said:

I think we needed to go this route to lock up our young stars.

It's truly the only way to avoid a cap crunch.

1 hour ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

But what about the goaltending?

I don't know but that's for another thread.

[Two or less]

16 minutes ago, Doohickie said:

Can he?  Yes.  Will he?  Probably once or twice he'll make a big splash at the deadline or in FA.  But his style is to make incremental, steady improvements, the kinds of acquisitions that the league will barely notice, but they will make the team better both in the short term and over the long haul.

I think the two biggest additions to this team this season (if it works out) will be Patrick Kane and Jack Quinn. There's no chance this team will make a blockbuster move during the season IMO. Cozens mentioned it recently in one interview they want to do it together and i think Adams honors that besides some tweaks.

Once this season is over, depending how it ends, i think we'll see some movement next summer.

[Doohickie]

37 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

Hmm, it carries some risk. Power has to keep improving for it to be worth it. Beware a sophomore slump though won't represent who he really is. 

Impo, Dahlin will always be at a level above Power.

Possible but at some point each will plateau and I think it's a crap shoot as to who plateaus at a higher level.

[GASabresIUFAN]

26 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

Rasmus Dahlin is better and will continue to be better than Owen Power. Rasmus has a higher ceiling, period. There's just some revisionist history going on. 

I'm going to have to agree here.  Power on another team might actually have more upside.  However with Dahlin here and already a force on both ends of the ice, Power's upside might be somewhat capped because he'll be Robin to Dahlin's Batman.  I do wonder if we will see them as a pair over the next couple of years.  

[LGR4GM]

9 minutes ago, Doohickie said:

Possible but at some point each will plateau and I think it's a crap shoot as to who plateaus at a higher level.

It's not, Dahlin will plateau higher. I'll be somewhat surprised if Power ever eclipses Dahlin's 73pts from last year. Dahlin on the other hand I think can Crack 100.

I don't think it is a coin flip. Others are more than welcome to disagree. Sorry the above sounded so final. 

[Taro T]

2 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

I'm going to have to agree here.  Power on another team might actually have more upside.  However with Dahlin here and already a force on both ends of the ice, Power's upside might be somewhat capped because he'll be Robin to Dahlin's Batman.  I do wonder if we will see them as a pair over the next couple of years.  

Expect we will but only situationally.  Pretty sure that Granato learned last year that it's better to have nearly 60 minutes of a high end D-man being on the ice rather than having 25 or so minutes of them together with a significant step down in talent from the other pairs.

Using them like Anaheim used Pronger and Neidermayer just makes so much sense on so many levels.  When they're at their primes, can see the 2 of them taking 60+% of the ice time in the last 5 minutes of close games with neither leaving the ice in the final 2 minutes.

After each having controlled the ice separately for 20+ minutes separately.

[GASabresIUFAN]

11 minutes ago, Taro T said:

Expect we will but only situationally.  Pretty sure that Granato learned last year that it's better to have nearly 60 minutes of a high end D-man being on the ice rather than having 25 or so minutes of them together with a significant step down in talent from the other pairs.

Using them like Anaheim used Pronger and Neidermayer just makes so much sense on so many levels.  When they're at their primes, can see the 2 of them taking 60+% of the ice time in the last 5 minutes of close games with neither leaving the ice in the final 2 minutes.

After each having controlled the ice separately for 20+ minutes separately.

The problem, as we are learning with Power, is finding the right partner who can skate the same 25 minutes a night.  What if the solution is Dahlin/Power?

A D group something like this:

Dahlin/Power -25 minutes

Mule/Clifton - 18 minutes

Johnson/Joki (and R Johnson/Joki in 2024/25) - 17 minutes

D pairings like this would enable Power to develop fully and the Sabres to get the most out of the contract.  It would also allow Dahlin to continue to play on his preferred off side.

These pairings would also allow the Sabres to easily integrate guys like R Johnson, Novikov, Strbak and others as they mature.

 

 

Edited October 12, 2023 by GASabresIUFAN

[elijah]

2 hours ago, Buffalonill said:

Anyone saying risky Didn't pay attention at all last year to power he's the real deal and would have cost 10 million after this season 

did i just read this account say something positive 

[Flashsabre]

We will see Power-Dahlin a lot over the years. Donny already does it when they need offence later in games. Once the D corps is a little deeper I can see them being a pair for longer stretches.