Sabres Announce Owen Power Extension 7 years, 8.35 Million AAV

[Rasmus_]

Go take a nap, and wake up to a "power surge", of Owen being done.  Nice!  No more distractons.  Lets F'n Go!

[LabattBlue]

One year and you commit 8.35 for the next 7 years.  Call me skeptical. 
 

Starting next year, your top 3 defensemen have a cap hit of almost 24 mil.  For that, I hope their play in the defensive zone improves A LOT. 

Edited October 12, 2023 by LabattBlue

[Randall Flagg]

1 minute ago, LabattBlue said:

One year and you commit 8.35 for the next 7 years.  Call me skeptical. 
 

Starting next year, your top 3 defensemen have a cap hit of almost 24 mil.  For that I hope their play in the defensive zone improves A LOT. 

Good point. It cannot look like it did last year.

[Zamboni]

Like Dahlin, also with Power … Well now some fans will be hypersensitive and point out every little or big mistake he makes on every shift and say “he’s not worth his contract”. Not to mention if he doesn’t get as many points their minds are saying he should get. So that’ll be fun. 😂

 

I have faith Power will develop more. I have faith he has the talent, ability, and drive to have that contract be a fair deal. Not underpaid. Not overpaid. Over the course of the contract starting NEXT season.

[Rasmus_]

Here's the great thing, we have both Rasmus, who is further along in his progression.  Whereas Power is growing into his. 

[PerreaultForever]

Heck of a lot of money for a second year guy. It's risky but likely to be okay.

With all that money spent on D you'd think we'd be better at it though. 

[triumph_communes]

Dahlin has always been a better player than Power no matter the age. Dahlin was asked to salvage a terrible team. Power hasn’t had a great partner yet but he hasn’t been on a tire fire either. 

[RangerDave]

7 hours ago, Two or less said:

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.

This kind of reminds me of the 1980 US Mens Olympic Team.  They had a tight unit forged by a good coach and tough training.  They were also very young.  After all the time they spent training together and meshing, coach Brooks brought in a good player to add some skill.  But he was considered an outsider by the team and was eventually bounced out.  It worked out well for that team, obviously.  It is curous that very few of that team went on to enjoy good NHL careers though.  They are still tight to this day.

[LGR4GM]

7 hours ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

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.

David Jiricek is the right partner. But jokes aside, I think little Johnson would be good with him. 

[Night Train]

That's quite the gamble. He's still miles away from being a good player.  

[Zamboni]

11 minutes ago, Night Train said:

That's quite the gamble. He's still miles away from being a good player.  

Wait wait …. He’s not a good player today???

[That Aud Smell]

28 minutes ago, Night Train said:

He's still miles away from being a good player.  

Bruh.

[Derrico]

9 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

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. 

I’m not sure I’m ready to proclaim Power’s ceiling at this point in the game.  

I’m with you that it’s very likely Dahlin always stays a level ahead of Power but he was darn good last year and excited to see where his game can go.  Those transition passes were a thing of beauty (obviously Dahlin is a master at those long stretch passes also).  Glad we have both. 

[Taro T]

8 hours ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

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.

 

 

1st off, the partner doesn't have to play 25 minutes.  Even when pairings are kept extremely constant, there is overlap of pairings as guys change on the fly and also as STs dictate different deployments.  So, that isn't / won't be a driving factor.  When McNabb was playing "1st pairing" with Doughty, he was 5th in minutes for the Kings.

There will be some overlap of the 2 during games, and as mentioned above, we'll be seeing that as a pair at the end of several games regardless of how the pairings round out.

Maybe Granato will follow the Chicago model and have Dahlin and Power be his Keith and Seabrook.  But personally expect the Anaheim model will be better.  Samuelsson and Dahlin pass the eye test though the analytics guys seem not to like it.  Expect either Power Jokiharju will become solid or Johnson the younger will step into Henri's role.  And Samuelsson Johnson hopefully can become a very good PK pair easing Ras' and Owen's loads a bit.

And the kids will be able to be easily integrated in regardless of whether Ras and Power are a thing or not.  24 minutes for each, 6 minutes of only 1 D due to PP, 22 minutes for Muel, 19-20 minutes for the 4 leaves about 12 minutes apiece for the 3rd pairing.  Ras and Power have both gone to 28 or so when necessary, Muel can step up more too.  Too much ice time for the 3rd guys isn't an issue regardless with those minute munchers in house.

[Flashsabre]

Well no other team has a Dahlin and a Power that they can compare to each other.😁

[Carmel Corn]

18 minutes ago, Flashsabre said:

Well no other team has a Dahlin and a Power that they can compare to each other.😁

Perhaps not, but I find it interesting that the Pens have Letang and now Karlsson.  I view them as kind of a 1a and 1b.  We now have our 1a and 1b locked-up for a long time!

[Derrico]

1 minute ago, Carmel Corn said:

Perhaps not, but I find it interesting that the Pens have Letang and now Karlsson.  I view them as kind of a 1a and 1b.  We now have our 1a and 1b locked-up for a long time!

I’m loving the fact ours our 20 and 23 rather than 

[OverPowerYou]

So when do we trade one of Dahlin or Power to the Golden Knights Jack Eichel style?

[Zamboni]

2 minutes ago, OverPowerYou said:

So when do we trade one of Dahlin or Power to the Golden Knights Jack Eichel style?

I don’t know. When do you want to trade one of them “Jack Eichel” style?

[LabattBlue]

1 hour ago, Flashsabre said:

Well no other team has a Dahlin and a Power that they can compare to each other.😁

Hedman and Sergachev?

[mjd1001]

As others have said, you are paying 'market rate' compared to what other players are getting around the league.

Jake Sanderson:  8 years, $64.4m,   $8.05m per year

Owen Power:  7 years, $58.47,   $8.35m per year

Sanderson:  5th overall pick 2020, 21 years old, 1  NHL season played, 4 goals, 28 assists, 21:55 min per game on a 39 win team

Power:  1st overall pick 2021, 20 years old, 1 full season played, 4 goals, 31 assists, 22:05 minutes per game on a 42 win team.

The production/age/draft pedigree is very, VERY close, almost unreal how close they are. If anything, you might give Power the slight edge in these measurables, thus the contracts should be expected to be about the same, if anything with Power getting slightly more.

I'd expect Moritz Seider to sign an extension soon with Detroit for about the same term/money.

[DarthEbriate]

7 minutes ago, mjd1001 said:

I'd expect Moritz Seider to sign an extension soon with Detroit for about the same term/money.

Seider should get more than either. He's already Detroit's #1 by a wide margin and gets their PP1 minutes, they can't afford to let him be unhappy or go get an RFA offer sheet. They also don't have a Chabot/Chychrun or Dahlin who would be the #1. Edvinsson will get the Power deal in a couple of years if he plays to potential. Knowing the cap is going up, Seider's agent should be looking to get Werenski/McAvoy level minimum $9M.

Also...  "Unlimited... DOLLARS!"

This is a good signing and will look better year after year.

[dudacek]

For a different perspective, Vancouver sportsradio take this morning:

“Owen Power? Oh, yeah, he was the #1 pick a few years ago. I kinda forget about that guy”

“It’s kinda funny with Buffalo. It seems like any time anyone remotely good there gets close to free agency, it’s like LOCK HIM UP! NOW! DONT LET HIM GET AWAY!”

[Night Train]

2 minutes ago, dudacek said:

For a different perspective, Vancouver sportsradio take this morning:

“Owen Power? Oh, yeah, he was the #1 pick a few years ago. I kinda forget about that guy”

“It’s kinda funny with Buffalo. It seems like any time anyone remotely good there gets close to free agency, it’s like LOCK HIM UP! NOW! DONT LET HIM GET AWAY!”

Should have been a bridge deal, IMO.  

[matter2003]

10 hours ago, LabattBlue said:

One year and you commit 8.35 for the next 7 years.  Call me skeptical. 
 

Starting next year, your top 3 defensemen have a cap hit of almost 24 mil.  For that I hope their play in the defensive zone improves A LOT. 

If you looked at the metrics of the way he started breakouts and odd-man rushes from brilliant plays and stretch passes from his own zone, you wouldn't be.  The numbers were elite. Like top of the league for D-man elite.  That's his first year...it's only going to get better and better. Power had a LOT more to do with this team being so high scoring than most people realize.

Edited October 12, 2023 by matter2003