History Lesson! Buffalo Sabres 3 worst contracts since 2010
By Sion Fawkes
The Buffalo Sabres have seen over a decade of misery. And reckless spending has contributed to the debacle. Let’s explore the three worst.
Many in the Buffalo Sabres faithful will point to Jeff Skinner when you ask them who signed the worst contract in recent history. Luckily for Skinner, he remains off this list – for now, anyway. Had it not been for a 63-point outing that tied a career-high, I would have most likely just listed Skinner in all three slots and called it an article.
Yes, he was that bad following his massive eight-year, $72 million contract signing in June 2019. Between October 2019 and May 2021, Skinner’s numbers look like this: 112 games, 21 goals, 16 assists, 37 points, and a shooting percentage of 7. He was so bad that he was a healthy scratch multiple times in March 2021.
Fast-forward to August 2022, and Skinner remains on the Sabres first line after a 33-goal season. He played so well that I even listed him as my #1 forward on the Sabres, given both his ability to redeem his play and the fact that he’d been such a solid contributor before his slump that he even represented the Sabres in the 2019 NHL All-Star Game.
So Skinner gets a reprieve here. Unfortunately, a few players listed below do not. Let’s explore their contract situations and why they made my list.
The three worst contracts for the Buffalo Sabres since 2010: Contract #1 – Christian Ehrhoff, D
While many Buffalo Sabres fans think the Skinner contract was a bad one, the Ehrhoff signing has it beaten by a mile. Yes, it was “only” a $40 million contract over 10 seasons, which Ehrhoff signed in June 2011, but difference is that Ehrhoff lasted just three year in the Queen City after he arrived via trade and subsequently signed.
The Sabres had high hopes for the former Norris Trophy contender, and for two seasons, it looked as though Ehrhoff would have lived up to the hype. But when you check out possession metrics, you get a different story regarding Ehrhoff.
In 2011-12, Ehrhoff saw 1,238.2 minutes of total ice time (TOI) with a Corsi For Percentage (CF%) of 50.5 at even strength. This number, however, drops the following season to 49.8 percent – 924.5 TOI at even strength, and it drops even further to just 46.4 in 1,412.1 minutes – a career-low.
Further, on-ice shooting percentage at even strength dropped substantially from 8.9 percent in 2011-12 to just 7.1 percent in 2013-14. Further, goals for while on ice at even strength (oiGF) at even strength also dropped from 58 to 48 over that same span, while goals against while on ice at even strength (oiGA) increased from 57 to 75.
The result? Fast-forward to June 30th, 2014, and the Buffalo Sabres used a compliance buyout to get Ehrhoff out the door. While the buyout does not affect the organization’s salary cap, it does require them to pay Ehrhoff $857,143 per year until 2027-28.