Rasmus Dahlin signs 3 years 6 Million AAV Contract with Sabres

[Brawndo]

 

Edited September 22, 2021 by Brawndo

[SHAAAUGHT!!!]

Glad to see it done, but wish it was 5 years longer even at $8-8.5MM a year.  Hopefully doesn't bite us at extension time...

[dudacek]

Glad it's done.

They paid too much for three years, I think.

Best case scenario is he outplays it immediately and signs a long-term extension prior to the final year.

And hooray! We're over the floor!

[pi2000]

Fair deal for both sides.

[Thorner]

Wanted LT. Disappointed with this. Not like it's a bargain for the next 3. 

Sets up another Reinhart situation if we don't become good in these 3 years

[Thorner]

Why is he going to want to stay after these 3 years if we aren't a winning team within them? It's Reinhart all over again 

[Flashsabre]

Dahlin was really blossoming under Granato last season and couldn’t afford to miss anytime to start camp.

There was no benefit to Dahlin to sign a max year deal now. The team is in turmoil, 3 years let’s him see where the ship is heading.

[Norcal]

So. We're not happy Dahlin signed and will be there for the start of camp? 

Or we are? 

[Doohicksie]

Happy that he's signed.  Wish it were longer term.

[dudacek]

I'm ecstatic he's here.

It's his team now and he needs to be asserting himself on the ice and in the room from day one.

[Digger]

I would think Vancouver won't like this deal for their efforts to sign Hughes.  They should have went first. 

I'm okay with the deal because I think Dahlin still needs to show us how good he can be still consistently.  He's had positives and negatives so far in his career and definitely lots of potential.

 

[GASabresIUFAN]

16 minutes ago, Thorny said:

Why is he going to want to stay after these 3 years if we aren't a winning team within them? It's Reinhart all over again 

It's a fair question, but hopefully the team has made some real progress by then.  At least it's a 3 years instead of one or 2.  

[SHAAAUGHT!!!]

12 minutes ago, Thorny said:

Why is he going to want to stay after these 3 years if we aren't a winning team within them? It's Reinhart all over again 

This may be an unfair salary comparison due to market conditions.  The cost of defensemen went up considerably this year and the cap was flat, which is going to make a lot of year-over-year % comparisons stand out for 21-22

That said I agree it's on the high side, but hopefully it gives him some extra motivation and buys us some goodwill when it's extension time...

[GASabresIUFAN]

6% or 7% is meaningless.  All it means is that KA can't sign another 750K veteran replacement player.

[That Aud Smell]

I like the term, for both the team and player. Bit of a win-win.

I'm reading that it's a little "rich." So be it. This team projects to have plenty of cap room.

[Brawndo]

 

[tom webster]

This is exactly what was expected by prognosticators in the know. The Sabres would have went longer term but not over $8M and Rasmus wasn’t going to accept that. Some people act like it’s strictly a team decision. Smart players who believe in themselves realize it’s foolish to sign long term unless you get a huge overpayment. For the millionth time, the cap is going to skyrocket after a couple years of correction and there are going to be a lot of unhappy, underpaid players.

[Wyldnwoody44]

9 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

6% or 7% is meaningless.  All it means is that KA can't sign another 750K veteran replacement player.

he lives and dies by the 750k player!! 

[Thorner]

14 minutes ago, SHAAAUGHT!!! said:

This may be an unfair salary comparison due to market conditions.  The cost of defensemen went up considerably this year and the cap was flat, which is going to make a lot of year-over-year % comparisons stand out for 21-22

That said I agree it's on the high side, but hopefully it gives him some extra motivation and buys us some goodwill when it's extension time...

I really wanted term. With the lack of winning this org is intentionally setting itself up for the new few years, this is quite the risky play. The overpay is just a bit of a kicker - I don't think they are going to have an issue with the cap the next few years. 

It's more so that they went shorter term....and also didn't get any kind of savings in the near term by doing so. There is nothing good about this deal at all unless Dahlin doesn't amount to as much as we'd like - and if that's the case....sweet? 

[Thorner]

5 minutes ago, tom webster said:

This is exactly what was expected by prognosticators in the know. The Sabres would have went longer term but not over $8M and Rasmus wasn’t going to accept that. Some people act like it’s strictly a team decision. Smart players who believe in themselves realize it’s foolish to sign long term unless you get a huge overpayment. For the millionth time, the cap is going to skyrocket after a couple years of correction and there are going to be a lot of unhappy, underpaid players.

Well, ya - the overpay is definitely coming if Dahlin goes to plan - we'll be shelling out BIG for the UFA years now, no chance of a bargain. Especially when, as you point out, the cap will be way up, for all teams, and if he's sitting one year from UFA - that's an avenue worth exploring

[darksabre]

I think it's the right move from the standpoint of trying to get as much time from "prime Dahlin" as possible.

He's 21 right now. He'll be 24 when this bridge is up and they have to get a new deal done. At that point, if he's turned into the player we want him to, no one will have a problem with the Sabres signing him to a big money 8 year deal. That will carry him to 32 and then the Sabres can walk away from him knowing they got him in his prime.

I prefer this to signing him to 8 or 9 years now and then having him turn out to be good and trying to decide whether or not they need to lock him in for another 6-8 like Karlsson when he's 29-30 years old. No thanks. I don't want anything to do with that.

[Thorner]

If the Sabres couldn't get him to term now they couldn't get him to term, now - but we have no idea what the team was actually willing to go to/what it would have taken. If this was the only deal Dahlin was realistically open to, it's now on the team to create a situation where he wants to re-up in 3 years. 

[Brawndo]

The other defenseman deals probably contributed to this to a higher AAV

[Thorner]

3 minutes ago, darksabre said:

I think it's the right move from the standpoint of trying to get as much time from "prime Dahlin" as possible.

He's 21 right now. He'll be 24 when this bridge is up and they have to get a new deal done. At that point, if he's turned into the player we want him to, no one will have a problem with the Sabres signing him to a big money 8 year deal. That will carry him to 32 and then the Sabres can walk away from him knowing they got him in his prime.

I prefer this to signing him to 8 or 9 years now and then having him turn out to be good and trying to decide whether or not they need to lock him in for another 6-8 like Karlsson when he's 29-30 years old. No thanks. I don't want anything to do with that.

8 years from now encompasses our best current center's prime (Dylan Cozens) so for me I was after the savings in the back half that a LT deal would presumably provide - the savings we'd need while presumably competing in the playoffs during the prime years of Cozens, Dahlin, et all. Not quite as worried yet about age 30+ for these guys, more so trying to do something useful in their 20s, first. 

[darksabre]

3 minutes ago, Thorny said:

8 years from now encompasses our best current center's prime (Dylan Cozens) so for me I was after the savings in the back half that a LT deal would presumably provide - the savings we'd need while presumably competing in the playoffs during the prime years of Cozens, Dahlin, et all. Not quite as worried yet about age 30+ for these guys, more so trying to do something useful in their 20s, first. 

I'm not too worried about savings. Good teams find ways to make the money work.