Giving Malkin that kind of contract when you have a ton of RFAs who are going to be looking for new deals is a mistake. They'll use him as a comparable.

What are you talking about? It is a 2 year contract, and his money expires when we need to start paying Dahlin, Power, and etc.

Only Tage needs to be paid next offseason, and okposo alone has 6 million leaving the books.

The problem isn't having money for those guys, it's that they'll use Malkins contract as a comparable when negotiating their deals. Say Krebs outscored Malkin in his contract year. He's going to go to the GM and say 'I want more than the guy you are paying to score less than me.' Cuts the legs out from underneath the GM before the negotiation has even started.

I think it is pretty simple to show a gm you clearly overpaid due to cap space and team age. The sabres wouldnt be the first to do that. Now we are really reaching, waaaaaaaaaay back.

I don't think any player on this team can use a 36 year old future hall of famer's contract as a negotiation comparable. Apples and oranges.