Money
All reports tied to Jeff Skinner’s contract negotiations with the Sabres shows they are far apart on just about everything. He wants to make $9 million a year with a long-term contract. The Sabres would reportedly feel more comfortable with something around $8 million with much less term.
With the fight about term clear as day, it seems that eighth possible year on the contract is a moot point. It would be a positive for the Sabres usually, but they don’t seem to want to use it.
We are missing some details here. Are they offering a three-year deal, a five-year deal or a seven-year deal? Are they close to $9 million, or are we thinking they’re coming in closer to $7.5 million? There are questions we’d love answers to before talking about money.
Well, we’re here and we’re going to talk about money anyway. With the NHL salary cap expected to go up to $83 million next season, that gives the Devils $33 million to play with. That’s with Hall, Nico and Sami Vatanen under contract for another season. When their contracts expire, they will be at $53 million in cap space. There’s a ton of flexibility for this Devils team.
They can offer Skinner the $9 million he desires and it won’t kill them. Andy Greene‘s contract comes off the books next year. Travis Zajac comes off the books the year after that. This team has enough prospects to fill the rest of the lineup, and Ray Shero is good at drafting is about to get another top seven (hopefully top three) pick. Even if the Devils offer him $8.5 million, they could give him that seventh year.
It may worry some Devils fans to pay a guy like Skinner that kind of money. That would be a total of more than $58 million. That’s a lot dedicated to one player, but Skinner proved this season he can be worth it.