The Buffalo Sabres have a lot of salary cap space to spend this summer — and a Vancouver Canucks star should be firmly in the sights of Sabres management.
As per Puck Pedia, Buffalo has approximately $23.2-million in cap space this summer. And while it’s highly-unlikely the Sabres will land top UFA Mitch Marner, another Canadian market’s top UFA could make much more sense for the Sabres — with the proviso that they’re still going to have to pay him well above-market value.
We’re speaking about Canucks winger Brock Boeser, who earned $6.65-million this past season. Boeser produced 25 goals and 50 points in 75 games with Vancouver this year — well below his 40-goal, 73-point season with the Canucks in 2023-24. But the 28-year-old is still in his prime, and you’d better believe there will be many teams lining up to secure his services this summer.
With that said, how much is Boeser worth? Speculation that his next contract will come in between $8-to-$9-million per year should be sobering for Sabres management. But look at it this way: with the cap ceiling set to rise to $95.5-million next year, teams have to be prepared to outbid opponents to land proven veterans like Boeser. The alternative — being the runner-up, or being well out of the final teams bidding for Boeser — is not going to sit well with Sabres fans. At some point, if you can’t figure out how to attract free agents to your city, you probably shouldn’t be the one in charge of attracting free agents to your city.
We’ve noted before that Buffalo needs to be realistic in their UFA targets. But that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t try to swing for the fences and set a new tone for a new era. And if that means overpaying for someone like Boeser, the Sabres should be fully ready to pay that price.
In this case, that might not mean paying top-dollar (although let’s be real here — it almost certainly will mean paying top-dollar). It could mean tacking on one or two years of contract term that other teams aren’t prepared to pay for Boeser. And if Boeser proves to be not worthy of a sixth-or-seventh-season in a new contract, you can look at buying him out in the final season or two of a new contract. That’s what big-market teams do all the time, and there should be no unease from Sabres management that they need to step up that way to be a winner when it comes to attracting free agents.
It’s the cost of doing business in hockey’s top league, and it’s why Buffalo needs to take an aggressive stance at luring free agents into a Sabres uniform. When you’re a team that’s missed the playoffs for 14 straight seasons, you have to go a little bit harder than other teams go when it comes to improving your roster.
Free agency is only five weeks away, so the Sabres need to get their house in order to appeal to stars like Boeser. Because no Buffalo fan wants to hear excuses anymore. They want results, and they want them now. And if the Sabres can’t figure out how to improve — be it via free-agency or via trades — there’s going to be more bad news on the horizon for this franchise.
It’s a cold-blooded world out there for teams seeking to improve, and past failures in Buffalo aren’t reason enough to justify future failures in Buffalo. Sabres brass has to go the extra mile to attract top players, and nothing less than that extra mile will suffice in efforts to improv this franchise.
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