Sabres owner Terry Pegula continued his spending spree today by avoiding going to arbitration with defenseman Andrej Sekera. Instead of going to court to settle their differences, the two sides settled on a long term deal. Inside NHL sources tell PHT that the deal is for four years and $11 million with a $4.75 million signing bonus included in that amount.
With Sekera’s deal coming in with a $2.75 million cap hit, CapGeek has the Sabres over the salary cap by just over $2.3 million and they’ve still got to get a deal done with restricted free agents defenseman Marc-Andre Gragnani and backup goalie Jhonas Enroth. With spots on defense being locked up for most everyone and Gragnani figuring to be back in the mix for playing time, someone is going to find themselves on the outside looking in.
The leading candidate for that role is Shaone Morrisonn who has one year left on his contract worth $2.075 million against the cap. With guys like Sekera and Mike Weber capable of doing the same job Morrisonn does, he’s left to be a redundant player on a team looking to get under the cap.
The other player that sticks out as a potential cap victim is recently re-acquired winger Ales Kotalik. Kotalik is on the final year of a deal that pays him $3 million against the cap. Last season, Kotalik spent most of the year in the AHL to help the Calgary Flames stay under the cap. His production isn’t what it used to be when he was with the Sabres the first time around and with his cost being so high, the Sabres might be better off dumping him in the AHL as well. At least their salary cap would benefit from that if Kotalik can’t crack their lineup.
Sabres GM Darcy Regier hasn’t had to face these sorts of issues in the past and while this is a new role for the team to play, Regier is smart enough to make the right moves to get his team in cap compliance. While Regier will take heat for the deals given to Christian Ehrhoff and Ville Leino, the Sabres making bold moves like that have people looking at the team differently. Regier’s next trick will be to make sure he doesn’t cut loose a player that could help them go deep into May and June next season.
Also: The Sabres also signed Matt Ellis to a multi-year deal as well. Contract details for Ellis were not available.