Sabres walk away from Dumont

[phSabres84]

Buffalo has walked on his award

per WGR-550

[jwnikita]

Dumont is now an UFA.

[X. Benedict]

Dumont is now an UFA.

 

I am not surprised by this. Too bad something couldn't have been worked out.

I don't think you can fault Darcy on this one. Nobody was willing to pay 2.9 plus plus

assets to tie up Dumont for one year.

 

I would be surprised if Dumont can get more than 2.4 on the open market.

I just hope he goes West.

[SabresGuyInMalta]

Definitely had to expect this. Still though, I dont fault the Sabres at all for not wanting to pay 2.9 million to Dumont for this season.

 

Good luck to JP in the future...unless he plays in-division that is, in which case I curse thee.

[SHAAAUGHT!!!]

Buffalo has walked on his award

per WGR-550

 

This is good news. It opens up a roster spot up front and gets us farther away from the cap.

[rickshaw]

Simply put, dumont was not worth that kind of scratch. I liked him and he was a steal for our team when we got him, but it's time to move on.

 

I don't want to hear Briere crying about it though. He got his big payday and he better accept that his salary has some input on the Sabres' decision to walk away from J.P.

 

J.P. won't get anywhere near $2.9 from someone else. I'm sure he will get around $1.9 which the Sabres would have honoured I do believe. It's too bad J.P. wouldn't take that here, but you can't blame him either.

 

I guess the Habs will be calling. Could be interesting.

[rickshaw]

Agreed. We need some of the younger guys to have a shot. It's part of the cycle of sports. I wish him well, except when he plays us.

[phSabres84]

During his interview on WGR, Darcy did say that shortly after walking away from JP's award, the Sabres have put an offer on the table for JP to consider while testing the FA market.

[BetweenThePipes00]

During his interview on WGR, Darcy did say that shortly after walking away from JP's award, the Sabres have put an offer on the table for JP to consider while testing the FA market.

 

May as well try to bring him back cheaper ... he's not going to get a ton of great offers ... they are talking about Anson Carter signing somehwere for $1.5 million after scoring 33 goals ... he is 4 years older, but numbers-wise he is very similar to JP ... 5 20+ goal seasons ... I would rather have Dumont, especially with the age factor, but I don't think I'd pay 2.9M if i could get Carter for 1.5M ...

[Stoner]

This is good news. It opens up a roster spot up front and gets us farther away from the cap.

 

Unless you can name someone who's better than Dumont who's ready to step in, it's not good news. I understand why it happened, and I hope we can somehow get him back as a FA. But there's no way it's good news. It's terrible, depressing news.

[apuszczalowski]

It would be great if he accepts the deal and comes back cheaper, but I have a feeling he will get a better deal somewhere else. If Mckee can get 4 mil a year, someone will overpay for Dumont and give him what he wants.

 

I doubt Briere will complain about him leaving publically cause right now, his contract is one of the main reasons why Dumont was let go. It would have been nice to be able to deal Dumont away for something, but no one was going to offer Buffalo anything worth while when they knew Buffalo could not afford to accept the deal and eventually release him

[mphs mike]

During his interview on WGR, Darcy did say that shortly after walking away from JP's award, the Sabres have put an offer on the table for JP to consider while testing the FA market.

 

 

That's good. I think they had to cut bait because with a salary cap no team would pay him $2.9, much less gives the Sabres an asset for the right to do so. Once the Sabres finalize Miller, Khalinin, and the back up goalie situation I hope we can be competitive in making an offer to JP.

 

I still think Biron and Briere are long shots to open camp as Sabres.

[shrader]

It would be great if he accepts the deal and comes back cheaper, but I have a feeling he will get a better deal somewhere else. If Mckee can get 4 mil a year, someone will overpay for Dumont and give him what he wants.

 

There's some hope though. McKee was signed in the first few days of free agency when most teams had a ton of money freed up. Now budgets are a bit tighter. I don't know what the market would be for him, but I think it's safe to say that teams are less likely to break their payroll structure for him than they would be for someone like Briere.

[Ogie Oglethorpe]

So, the Sabres could still re-sign him. I would've thought there was some sort of provision that prevented them from rejecting the arbritation and then signing him to a lesser contract.

 

Now that I think of it, maybe that provision is just him being a UFA.

 

I'd be shocked if they do re-sign him, unless Darcy really gave him a better offer than the market will dictate.

[Done]

So, the Sabres could still re-sign him. I would've thought there was some sort of provision that prevented them from rejecting the arbritation and then signing him to a lesser contract.

 

Now that I think of it, maybe that provision is just him being a UFA.

 

I'd be shocked if they do re-sign him, unless Darcy really gave him a better offer than the market will dictate.

 

I agree....that seems like a flaw in the system the NHLPA didn't think of. Briere is stuck for 1 year at $5 million and can't do a long term deal until January. What happens if he gets hurt before then? He's done. Now....maybe the Sabres think 2.9 is high, but they like Dumont. They tell him they'll let him walk for that, but keep negotiating a long term deal after the award is given. I would love to have Dumont back for 3yr/7million. Hopefully they gave him a real offer with the intent of keeping him here at an efficient price.

[Taro T]

It definitely stinks that the Sabres had to let him go and received nothing in return, but with where they are at in Cap $'s, they couldn't risk going through the preseason without being able to trade him. Had they cut him after signing him, the team would have had to pay him nearly $1MM each of the next 2 years. They would have received only ~$2MM in cap space this year and would have lost ~$1MM in cap space next year.(Also, per Darcy, he tried to trade JP to every other team in the league and while he did receive offers, he received 0 offers that did not include an NHL player coming back.)

 

As it stands now, if the Sabres sign Ryan to a deal that averages $2.5MM and Dmitri to a deal that averages $2.0MM (which are what I would expect to be nearly as cheaply as the Sabres could get them signed for 3 years), then if the Sabres last 2 roster spots are filled with players making the league minimum, the team is ~$400k over the salary cap.

 

Either the Sabres have to get those guys in at extremely low prices which I don't see happening or Marty will absolutely have to be moved.

 

One thing the Sabres can do to save a few $'s is to only play with a 22 man roster. There is no rule that forces them to go with more than 20 players but practicality would dictate they have at least 22. Maybe for a homestand they would risk going with 21 players with the plan to use Pominville as the 6th D if a D-man got hurt in warmups, but I really don't see that as being realistic.

 

If Marty is replaced with an $800k backup, then with my previous assumptions, a 23 man roster would come in at just under $43.3MM.

 

I still would not be surprised to see 1 more player missing from this roster in addition to Marty as I don't see the team wanting to have a salary cap cost above $43MM (realistically $42MM) to be able to bring up guys when the inevitable injuries strike or to add to the team at the trade deadline. (Plus they will still want to try to get Drury and Hecht locked up long term as well, I'd imagine.)

 

 

 

Also, I think it may have been posted here before, but can't remember for sure, but on D'ohopp and Bullfrog they said that Danny had been looking for $5MM/yr for 5 years. If that is true, then some of DeLuca's criticism of Danny begins to add merit. At a minimum, I would hope that he refrain in the future from bemoaning whether the team is working to "keep the team together".

 

I would be very interested in hearing Danny's comments on the events of today as his contract is a major part of the (if not the) reason his friend very likely will not be wearing a yellow and blue grease stain next season (or if he is back, it will likely be at a heavy discount).

[bob_sauve28]

It's terrible, depressing news.

Why don't I feel terrible or depressed then? Heck I feel pretty good actually. And just think, next year at this time you have 'This date in sabres history' fact to post. The storm clouds will blow over and the sun will come out PA, ain't that big of a deal

[shrader]

I agree....that seems like a flaw in the system the NHLPA didn't think of. Briere is stuck for 1 year at $5 million and can't do a long term deal until January. What happens if he gets hurt before then? He's done. Now....maybe the Sabres think 2.9 is high, but they like Dumont. They tell him they'll let him walk for that, but keep negotiating a long term deal after the award is given. I would love to have Dumont back for 3yr/7million. Hopefully they gave him a real offer with the intent of keeping him here at an efficient price.

 

There's still the chance that someone swoops in and makes a better offer, but I agree that it's a flaw in the system.

 

There is one thing that stands in the way of doing this though. Teams can only walk away from a certain number of arbitration awards each season. If 1-2 contracts are awarded through arbitration, the team can only walk away from 1 of them. If 3-4 are awarded, they can walk away from at most 2 of them. It keeps scaling up like that.

[Taro T]

I agree....that seems like a flaw in the system the NHLPA didn't think of. Briere is stuck for 1 year at $5 million and can't do a long term deal until January. What happens if he gets hurt before then? He's done. Now....maybe the Sabres think 2.9 is high, but they like Dumont. They tell him they'll let him walk for that, but keep negotiating a long term deal after the award is given. I would love to have Dumont back for 3yr/7million. Hopefully they gave him a real offer with the intent of keeping him here at an efficient price.

The Sabres right now have $5MM in cap space to sign Ryan, Dmitri, and 2 other players and you could probalby call it $6.3MM if Marty is traded before the season starts.

 

If Dumont got the deal you are proposing, in a best case the team has $4MM left to sign the other 3. Granted, the Sabres could still trade Kotalik, but if Dumont is signed to anything that averages over ~$1.7MM, the Sabres are dealing from a position of (even more) weakness than they currently are, as the will almost certainly HAVE to move somebody off the roster to get under the salary cap.

 

Best case, any other team in the league only offers him a LT deal at a price he feels is too low, so the Sabres one year deal doesn't smell quite so bad. Who knows, maybe the Sabres will have more room next year and can get an LT deal worked out with him next year, but I won't hold my breath waiting for it.

 

There's still the chance that someone swoops in and makes a better offer, but I agree that it's a flaw in the system.

 

There is one thing that stands in the way of doing this though. Teams can only walk away from a certain number of arbitration awards each season. If 1-2 contracts are awarded through arbitration, the team can only walk away from 1 of them. If 3-4 are awarded, they can walk away from at most 2 of them. It keeps scaling up like that.

To be honest, I don't see that as a flaw in the system. I actually see some of the awards that came out as being flawed, and the ability to let a player become an UFA and try a do over (where there are now 29 others looking over your shoulder) is a good thing.

 

If teams could walk away from all of the awards (or none) it would give one side WAY too much leverage.

 

I wouldn't be surprised to see more teams walk away from awards next season, as the bar (at least for forwards) appears to have been set pretty high.

[shrader]

The Sabres right now have $5MM in cap space to sign Ryan, Dmitri, and 2 other players and you could probalby call it $6.3MM if Marty is traded before the season starts.

 

Two other players? I know one is Jillson, who's the other? Either or Jillson or Paetch will be in Rochester, so that won't cost against the cap and their actual salary will be relatively low due to a two way contract.

 

Also dave, I think there some be some kind of penalty for walking away from an arbitration, so the team should be allowed to re-sign the player.

 

edit: According to nhlpa.com, Novotny and Thorburn haven't signed yet. Is one of them the 2nd player you're talking about?

[Rabbit151]

I wonder, like many of you, if Briere will realize his salary caused his friend to leave. I wonder if instead, he'll blame the Sabres somehow and try to make Regier look bad.

 

Like McKee, the players always seem to have these wonderful tales to tell about dealings behind the scenes that make the GM look bad. And some of us wonder why the team didn't lock up all these guys before last season, even though the Sabres appeared to be an un-proven, mostly AHL, non-playoff team with players (Connolly, Mair, Afinogenov and McKee) who's long-term injury status was (and still is) a serious concern.

 

I'm excited about the new guy who will step in. Paille? Thorburn? Stafford? Novotny? After seeing Pominville, Roy, Tallinder and Campbell blossom last year, I wonder if sometimes these AHL young guys aren't better players than most people give them credit for.

 

BTW, I never thought that much of JP as a player. I saw him as a decent player, flashes of brilliance even...but not a 2.9 million guy.

[LexLuthor871]

It would be great if he accepts the deal and comes back cheaper, but I have a feeling he will get a better deal somewhere else. If Mckee can get 4 mil a year, someone will overpay for Dumont and give him what he wants.

Maybe, maybe not...you figure some of these GMs in the wake of these arbitrator's generous rulings are getting wiser from a cost standpoint. Then again I don't put anything past some of these dopes.

[The Jokeman]

Maybe, maybe not...you figure some of these GMs in the wake of these arbitrator's generous rulings are getting wiser from a cost standpoint. Then again I don't put anything past some of these dopes.

generous? JP was awarded $600k a year less than a deal we gave Kotalik. Yet Dumont scored 5 less goals and 17 less assists in 28 less games than Ales. Personally, JP's a better overall value and well worth the extra money despite Kotalik's ability on the PP and right hand shot.

[Bmwolf21]

The Sabres right now have $5MM in cap space to sign Ryan, Dmitri, and 2 other players and you could probalby call it $6.3MM if Marty is traded before the season starts.

 

If Dumont got the deal you are proposing, in a best case the team has $4MM left to sign the other 3. Granted, the Sabres could still trade Kotalik, but if Dumont is signed to anything that averages over ~$1.7MM, the Sabres are dealing from a position of (even more) weakness than they currently are, as the will almost certainly HAVE to move somebody off the roster to get under the salary cap.

 

Dave, given the latest Marty developments, do you think the team's snugness to the cap plus an expensive backup are setting the plate for some sort of multi-player trade, including (but not limited to) Max & Kotalik, or someone else? I mean there have to be other teams out there that need wingers, and still have some room under the cap, especially to pickup a couple young players who are locked up for three years.

I wonder, like many of you, if Briere will realize his salary caused his friend to leave. I wonder if instead, he'll blame the Sabres somehow and try to make Regier look bad.

 

Like McKee, the players always seem to have these wonderful tales to tell about dealings behind the scenes that make the GM look bad. And some of us wonder why the team didn't lock up all these guys before last season, even though the Sabres appeared to be an un-proven, mostly AHL, non-playoff team with players (Connolly, Mair, Afinogenov and McKee) who's long-term injury status was (and still is) a serious concern.

 

I'm excited about the new guy who will step in. Paille? Thorburn? Stafford? Novotny? After seeing Pominville, Roy, Tallinder and Campbell blossom last year, I wonder if sometimes these AHL young guys aren't better players than most people give them credit for.

 

BTW, I never thought that much of JP as a player. I saw him as a decent player, flashes of brilliance even...but not a 2.9 million guy.

 

Good post. I never saw JP as a ~$3M player either; he always showed flashes of being an above-average player, but he would disappear for stretches at a time as well as taking some dumb penalties.

 

I, too, am really excited about seeing how the next crop of young guys will contribute, especially since this year we saw a lot of production from our young guys. Plus, I think Vanek got the message in the playoffs, and he'll be ready to step it up and pick up some of the slack from losing JP.

[LabattBlue]

generous? JP was awarded $600k a year less than a deal we gave Kotalik. Yet Dumont scored 5 less goals and 17 less assists in 28 less games than Ales. Personally, JP's a better overall value and well worth the extra money despite Kotalik's ability on the PP and right hand shot.

Actually Kotalik's contract averages 2.3 mil a year or 600k LESS than Dumont.