The salary cap in the NHL made a significant jump this summer and is expected to make a similar jump next summer to a salary of $104 million. In theory, this should be good news for a Buffalo Sabres team that is trying to end a playoff drought and have the chance to add talent to bolster their roster.
However, with some of the contracts already on the roster, like Tage Thompson and Josh Norris, along with Jeff Skinner still accounting for over $6 million, they won't have as much cap space as other teams. According to Puckpedia, the Sabres, as of today, are projected to have just over $24 million, which, most summers, would be a lot, but that is the seventh-smallest cap space currently around the league.
Will the Buffalo Sabres even use all their cap space?
The fact that the Sabres right now are near the bottom of the league in terms of available cap space certainly puts them at a disadvantage as the rest of the league can offer more for free agents. However, there is also a self-imposed restriction the Sabres have put on themselves over the years.
Over the past five seasons, the Sabres haven't come even close to spending to the salary cap. In the 2020-21 season, the Sabres had $8.8 million in available cap space remaining and those numbers would jump all the way up to $17.2 million for the 2022-23 season.
For this season, the Sabres did spend more, but still have around $5.1 million in available cap space remaining. It is certainly smart for teams to keep some cap space available going into the season to make additional moves, particularly around the trade deadline. When they have that flexibility, it makes it easier to make trades to improve the roster, but it is hard to imagine, based on recent history, that it will be used to help improve the roster.