Rasmus Dahlin has signed a new contract with the Buffalo Sabres.

Ouch

WOW. MONSTER deal for Dahlin.

You see a Max-term Extension at the second highest AAV in the league for a defensman.
I see the total value of the contract being $88M and it furthers my conspiracy theory that Patrick Kane will end up in Buffalo.

Good deal, Dahlin will be the #1 D in Buffalo for years to come

Holy moly that's huge deal

Big Money! Good for Dahlin, great player.

Oh boy how underpaid Heiskanen and Makar looks now

$11 million this year would be too much.
$11 million next year will be a little rich, even with the $4 million raise in the salary cap.
$11 million in a few years will be a bargain, as the cap will be at about $100 million.

Over the course of the contract, it will be a major bargain.

2 million a year too much. Good job Buffalo!

It’s the going rate and I’d even say the Sabres are paying for what he still might develop into slightly. This isn’t a team friendly in fact maybe 500K to 1Mil rich. He is and will likely be the long term Leader on the team. This deal will feel better nearing the end of the contract. Be interested to see the status of any No movement clauses when those are available.

A lot of money for a guy coming off a career year, but if there's a guy who can live up to it, It's Dahlin. Buffalo is always taking those high risk, high reward deals though. Bravo to them

How do these teams honestly expect to win handing out these ridiculous contracts.

Will be well worth it in 4-5 years when the cap is 100m+

I dont really dislike that much. They got capspace for this and Powers next contract. It aint cheap but cap is finally going up, and atleast they get his prime years with this 24-32. If major injuries dont occur he might actually live up this contract, unlike 90% of this magnitude contracts.
He upped his defensive game quite a lot last season also.

This will look good in a few years I think. Especially with the cap rising

Deserved. I'm expecting a Norris or two during (or before) this contract.

They honestly look at Vegas.

Eichel $10mm (12.1%) in 2022-23
Stone $9.5mm (11.5%)
Pietrangelo $8.8mm (10.7%)

And they say, wow, Vegas won with 3 guys making more than 10% of the cap.

Then BUF does some math and looks at their top contracts for 2024-25 (est. $87.5mm cap)

Dahlin $11mm (12.6%)
Skinner $9mm (10.3%)
Tage $7.14mm (8.2%)

And they figure they are in a much better cap situation than Vegas and they also figure the cap will keep going up knowing that that pushes those percentages even lower.

Simple math, really.

I mean, you kinda just have to pay him. I think he should be an 11mil dman for much of this deal, especially as the cap goes up, but it'll never really be a bargain.

Buffalo has some other really good deals on their books so this shouldn't compromise their competitive window.

They will be able to avoid cap management issues over the next few seasons (unless they go heavy into UFA/trade market):

2024-25 - Owen Power, Casey Mittelstadt, and Peyton Krebs
---> Oloffson off the books
And with another $5 million or so in cap increase, so this year shouldn't be a problem

2025-26 - Jack Quinn, Devon Levi, JJ Peterka
Another year of expected large cap increase should cover a good chunk of these raises

2026-27 - Alex Tuch, Zach Benson, Matthew Savoie, Jiri Kulich
This is pretty far in the future to predict but not all of these guys will win prime spots over the next few years to put themselves into position for a large contract.

Only Heiskanen, Makar didn’t signed an eight years deal

what an overpay

And Dahlin looks underpaid now. His AAV this year, and the past 2 years is/was $6mm.

Heiskanen's AAV:
2018-19: $894K
2019-20: $894K
2020-21: $894K
2021-22: $8.45mm
2022-23: $8.45mm
2023-24: $8.45mm
2024-25: $8.45mm

Dahlin:
2018-19: $925K
2019-20: $925K
2020-21: $925K
2021-22: $6mm
2022-23: $6mm
2023-24: $6mm
2024-25: $11mm

Says the guy who gave Huberdeau $10.5mm/year from the ages of 30-38.

It'll be interesting to revisit this deal in 2 years when L. Hughes, Miller, Byram, Chychrun, Dobson etc. get contracts. Given where the closest comps were at in their careers at time of signing and cap situation, the value doesn't seem all that off, Seems like most big defenseman contracts are based on reaching potential or paying established older Dmen whereas Dahlin solidified himself as a no. 1 before his deal and is still young.