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Report: Isles John Tavares and Buffalo’s Tyler Myers both close to signing extensions

John Tavares

Late last night TSN’s Bob McKenzie broke news of how New York Islanders rising star John Tavares and Buffalo Sabres phenom defenseman Tyler Myers are both close to signing contract extensions with their respective teams. Both players are in the final year of their entry level deals this year and after seeing the troubles that some teams are having this summer in re-signing their restricted free agents, getting something done this soon makes a world of sense.

For John Tavares, he sees what’s going on with guys like Drew Doughty, Luke Schenn, and Brad Marchand as well as the arbitration dealings of Shea Weber and doesn’t want to have that distraction heading into what could be a big building year for the Islanders. Arthur Staple of New York Newsday hears it from Tavares himself.

“It’s not something I want hanging over the season and affecting the team,” he said Tuesday after an informal skate at IceWorks in Syosset. “I know I’m going to be here for a long time and I’d like it to get done.”

The numbers are not known; it’s believed that the length of the deal being discussed is in the five- to six-year range. Islanders general manager Garth Snow and Pat Brisson, Tavares’ agent, declined comment on the talks.


Should the Islanders get Tavares locked up to a long-term deal, that would mean they’ve gotten virtually all of their young talent locked in place for the next few seasons. Matt Moulson is signed on for three more years, Michael Grabner signed a five year extension this summer and Kyle Okposo is also locked in place for the next five years.
Ryan Miller, Tyler Myers

What’s being worked on in Buffalo with Tyler Myers is looking a but juicier than what’s going on with Tavares. While things with the Sabres aren’t imminently close to being done, ESPN’s Pierre LeBrun reports that the framework for Myers’ deal with the Sabres is for seven years at $5.5 million per year.

If those numbers are close to what happens, the Sabres cap situation is going to be fascinating to watch with a new CBA coming next summer. According to CapGeek, if Myers re-upped for $5.5 million per season, their cap situation next season would put the Sabres at just over $55 million with only 16 players signed. If there was a salary cap roll back in place as part of the new labor deal, the Sabres would find themselves in quite the predicament after the monster deals they signed Ville Leino and Christian Ehrhoff to this summer as well as from previous deals to Drew Stafford, Jason Pominville, and Thomas Vanek.

That’s not even digging into the debate as to whether or not Myers is worth that kind of monster deal. That debate can hold off until he’s actually signed.

These two deals getting worked on, however, shows what this summer did for both the players and general managers around the league. With six prominent restricted free agents still working on getting deals done just days before training camp, some players and teams just don’t want to have that distraction heading into next season. For the players, it seems to be working out just fine financially speaking and for the teams, they’re realizing that when the bill comes due and great talent is close to being free they’ve got to pay up to make it happen.