So, about that salary cap

[dudacek]

So the Sabres have now filled out their 23-man roster and are at $90.3M under the cap, leaving them with $5.1M in space.

They did not have to pay to trade Conor Clifton or not qualify Jacob Bernard-Docker to fit under the cap, which sits at $95.5M.

They rank dead centre of the league in terms of cap space remaining, at 16th.

It is possible that rank will change with further trades or signings around the league, but unlikely it will shift dramatically given the lack of available roster spots or expensive unsigned players.

They are scheduled to spend $89.2M in actual salaries and bonuses this year, slightly less than their actual cap hit.

Edited yesterday at 05:54 PM by dudacek

[Archie Lee]

And, as was stated through the first half of the off-season, their cap situation was such that they couldn’t keep everyone and re-sign their RFA’s. Even with dumping Lafferty and Clifton, they didn’t have space to extend Peterka unless he was willing to take a bridge at a lower AAV.

It is some kind of work to be the youngest team in the league, finish 7th from the bottom with 79 points, AND be in cap trouble. 

[dudacek]

Last year's Sabres spent $79.6M, which was $8.4M under the cap of $88M.

They ranked 7th in unspent cap

[Taro T]

Just now, Archie Lee said:

And, as was stated through the first half of the off-season, their cap situation was such that they couldn’t keep everyone and re-sign their RFA’s. Even with dumping Lafferty and Clifton, they didn’t have space to extend Peterka unless he was willing to take a bridge at a lower AAV.

It is some kind of work to be the youngest team in the league, finish 7th from the bottom with 79 points, AND be in cap trouble. 

Yeah, we do seem to be in Act 3 of the 1 GM play, right down to stocking up on RHD.

Interesting that they didn't move Byram (am pleased with that, just didn't expect it) after Peterka asked out.  Wonder how much the calculus changed in what they felt they needed back in a Byram trade after JJ went bye-bye.  And wonder how the roster would've changed with him being the one going out the door instead of JJ.

Heading into the off-season, thought Adams had said he wanted to address a RHD for Power and another top 6 F (and thought the preference was for 1 that could also play C).  If that isn't just a case of misremembering, Adams only got 1/2 of the job done and on paper weakened the top 6 F.

Realize everybody expects they're done (and the majority here might very well be right about that), but there is still more work to do, and won't believe this is the final roster until we reach October if another move isn't made.

[dudacek]

In actual spending this year's Sabres are expected to pay out $108M in contracts, 21st among league teams.

Last year, they spent $99.6M, ranking 27th, a figure inflated by the Skinner buyout

https://www.spotrac.com/nhl/cash

[sabremike]

You are leaving out the massive dead cap space that's a consequence of the Skinner buyout (you know, the one done last year with the idea it gave us additional cap space for that season that Kevyn Smithers did ***** all with).

[kas23]

1 hour ago, sabremike said:

You are leaving out the massive dead cap space that's a consequence of the Skinner buyout (you know, the one done last year with the idea it gave us additional cap space for that season that Kevyn Smithers did ***** all with).

It’s large, but next year it will be massive:

 

25-26: $4.44M

26-27: $6.44M

then 3 more years at $2.44M

 

[Thorny]

Completely and utterly unacceptable 

[Pimlach]

3 minutes ago, Thorny said:

Completely and utterly unacceptable 

<sarcasm on>   What?  They are 16th of the league in cap remaining, that is a major step forward in their commitment.  <sarcasm off> 

They can make one more decent sized move if the opportunity arises.  

[Drag0nDan]

I feel like the only way they'll try and spend to the cap is approaching the deadline if they're in contention.  It's also probably the only time that a player might waive a NTC/NMC to come here so it increases the talent pool, but also usually has increased trade costs.  Unrestricted free agency was terrible this year after the majority of players opted to re-up prior, so it was almost like striking out without ever even going up to bat.  

[thewookie1]

6 minutes ago, Drag0nDan said:

I feel like the only way they'll try and spend to the cap is approaching the deadline if they're in contention.  It's also probably the only time that a player might waive a NTC/NMC to come here so it increases the talent pool, but also usually has increased trade costs.  Unrestricted free agency was terrible this year after the majority of players opted to re-up prior, so it was almost like striking out without ever even going up to bat.  

Effectively, we came to the plate with 2 outs and a man on 1st who after a pitch got caught stealing thus ending the inning.

[Drag0nDan]

Just now, thewookie1 said:

Effectively, we came to the plate with 2 outs and a man on 1st who after a pitch got caught stealing thus ending the inning.

Yeah, and now everyones reaching for roslovic who's agent is Claude Lemieux, who's son basically said "i'm not playing for buffalo".  He was Olofssons agent when they signed him to those deals, but that was restricted free agency so you have a lot less control - and he still seemed to stress short-term deals to get out of buffalo.  

[DarthEbriate]

8 minutes ago, thewookie1 said:

Effectively, we came to the plate with 2 outs and a man on 1st who after a pitch got caught stealing thus ending the inning.

I don’t know if the steal was attempted. Simply got picked off of first. 

[GASabresIUFAN]

21 hours ago, kas23 said:

It’s large, but next year it will be massive:

 

25-26: $4.44M

26-27: $6.44M

then 3 more years at $2.44M

 

Adams is planning ahead.  That’s why he is leaving $5 mill on the table this season.  He knows he’ll need money to re-sign Tuch, Kesselring, Doan and Benson (assuming everyone has a good season) after this coming season and he wants to be prepared.   

A good GM would spend the money on one year deals for more help this season, but Adams doesn’t work this way.  You dump Bryson and Malenstyn and sign Roslovic and Rutta instead.  

[LGR4GM]

23 hours ago, Archie Lee said:

And, as was stated through the first half of the off-season, their cap situation was such that they couldn’t keep everyone and re-sign their RFA’s. Even with dumping Lafferty and Clifton, they didn’t have space to extend Peterka unless he was willing to take a bridge at a lower AAV.

It is some kind of work to be the youngest team in the league, finish 7th from the bottom with 79 points, AND be in cap trouble. 

Nonsense. Good teams with competent management extend their young good players and figure out the cap issues later. They could have extended JJP and traded Jack Quinn. They could have extended JJP and traded Samuelsson. Lots of ways to get JJP under contract. You write this like there was no possible solution, when there were 100 options. Hell, they could have done NOTHING else but extend JJP and would still be under the cap because you are forgetting the 2.325 that's going to Doan and Kesselring. Adams could have been smart and not signed Greenway to 4million bucks when he's worth half of that.

They had the space to sign JJP, they wanted to trade him instead or at the very least he didn't want to sign but it the cap was not a hinderance to it happening. 

23 hours ago, sabremike said:

You are leaving out the massive dead cap space that's a consequence of the Skinner buyout (you know, the one done last year with the idea it gave us additional cap space for that season that Kevyn Smithers did ***** all with).

No we aren't. That is included in the Sabres current cap number. They have 5.19 million in cap space left including Skinner's 4.44million. 

https://puckpedia.com/team/buffalo-sabres

[PromoTheRobot]

On 7/27/2025 at 1:52 PM, dudacek said:

So the Sabres have now filled out their 23-man roster and are at $90.3M under the cap, leaving them with $5.1M in space.

They did not have to pay to trade Conor Clifton or not qualify Jacob Bernard-Docker to fit under the cap, which sits at $95.5M.

They rank dead centre of the league in terms of cap space remaining, at 16th.

It is possible that rank will change with further trades or signings around the league, but unlikely it will shift dramatically given the lack of available roster spots or expensive unsigned players.

They are scheduled to spend $89.2M in actual salaries and bonuses this year, slightly less than their actual cap hit.

I believe another move is coming. The Rust thing keeps cropping up. Kyle Dubas wants prospects. Sabres have em. Could be another team. Of course a current Sabre is likely to get moved too.

23 hours ago, Taro T said:

Yeah, we do seem to be in Act 3 of the 1 GM play, right down to stocking up on RHD.

Interesting that they didn't move Byram (am pleased with that, just didn't expect it) after Peterka asked out.  Wonder how much the calculus changed in what they felt they needed back in a Byram trade after JJ went bye-bye.  And wonder how the roster would've changed with him being the one going out the door instead of JJ.

Heading into the off-season, thought Adams had said he wanted to address a RHD for Power and another top 6 F (and thought the preference was for 1 that could also play C).  If that isn't just a case of misremembering, Adams only got 1/2 of the job done and on paper weakened the top 6 F.

Realize everybody expects they're done (and the majority here might very well be right about that), but there is still more work to do, and won't believe this is the final roster until we reach October if another move isn't made.

 

[JohnC]

On 7/27/2025 at 2:00 PM, Archie Lee said:

And, as was stated through the first half of the off-season, their cap situation was such that they couldn’t keep everyone and re-sign their RFA’s. Even with dumping Lafferty and Clifton, they didn’t have space to extend Peterka unless he was willing to take a bridge at a lower AAV.

It is some kind of work to be the youngest team in the league, finish 7th from the bottom with 79 points, AND be in cap trouble. 

Why is it that a stretched-out cap team like Vegas with a lot more talent than Buffalo is always able to stay within the cap and keep winning? As an example, this offseason, they signed Marner to an extended rich contract. Vegas has had to ship out a lot of talent in order to bring in additional talent that allows their SC team to continue to compete for the SC year in and year out. Vegas is a serious franchise while Buffalo is a third-rate franchise that muddles along to be mediocre. 

[PromoTheRobot]

3 minutes ago, JohnC said:

Why is it that a stretched-out cap team like Vegas with a lot more talent than Buffalo is always able to stay within the cap and keep winning? As an example, this offseason, they signed Marner to an extended rich contract. Vegas has had to ship out a lot of talent in order to bring in additional talent that allows their SC team to continue to compete for the SC year in and year out. Vegas is a serious franchise while Buffalo is a third-rate franchise that muddles along to be mediocre. 

Because Vegas is a team everyone wants to play for and they push the cap rules.

[JohnC]

Just now, PromoTheRobot said:

Because Vegas is a team everyone wants to play for and they push the cap rules.

That argument doesn't resonate with me. For one, everyone doesn't want to play for Vegas, and even if they did, that doesn't mean that the organization would want the player or be able to fit the desirous players onto their roster. There is no question that they stretch the cap rules but that doesn't mean that they are breaking it to the point where the league office takes punitive action. Vegas is a serious franchise committed to winning. The Sabres are a Pegula owned franchise that muddles along striving to be mediocre. The comparison between the two franchises is stark and embarrassing. 

[PromoTheRobot]

8 minutes ago, JohnC said:

That argument doesn't resonate with me. For one, everyone doesn't want to play for Vegas, and even if they did, that doesn't mean that the organization would want the player or be able to fit the desirous players onto their roster. There is no question that they stretch the cap rules but that doesn't mean that they are breaking it to the point where the league office takes punitive action. Vegas is a serious franchise committed to winning. The Sabres are a Pegula owned franchise that muddles along striving to be mediocre. The comparison between the two franchises is stark and embarrassing. 

Compare the Golden Knights to any NHL team. Few are at their level. Are the Red WIngs unserious? The Blues? And are you really denying that Vegas is a attractive destination?