How much will the average Sabres player make in 2024-25?

While the average dollar amount of what the average Sabres player will make for the upcoming 2024-25 season will vary throughout the year, we can at least get a good idea of what that number will look like based on current projections in the summer of 2024. 

Figuring out this number isn’t incredibly hard, as it takes adding the projected amount of what Tage Thompson and the Sabres forwards slated to be in the lineup come opening night will earn via a cap hit, Rasmus Dahlin and the defensemen, and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen and the goaltenders. For 2024-25, that projected number per Puck Pedia is $79,550,516 as of August 2nd.

For the projected lineup, 22 players have been signed, with only Peyton Krebs being without a contract at this point. Regardless of what happens with Krebs, we’re still close enough to make a projection of how much the average Sabres player - the sum of the total cap hit of each player divided by 22 - will earn heading into the 2024-25 season. 

The average Sabres player will make X dollars in 2024-25

So, let’s do the math, taking $79,550,516 and dividing it by 22, which gives us $3,615,932 in the current season. As mentioned in previous posts, Rasmus Dahlin holds the No. 1 spot as the highest-paid player while JJ Peterka remains the lowest-paid, even if it’s all but a foregone conclusion that Peterka won’t hold the bottom spot in those rankings much longer. 

It will be interesting to see whether Peyton Krebs further brings that number down or if the Sabres will pay him closer to the average number outlined above. He does bring value to the team, even if that value hasn’t come in points, but for his defensive play. 

Still, with him potentially on a bottom-six like what the Sabres have built this offseason, and if Kevyn Adams gave him a little more than some of us may think - this isn’t saying that he will earn anywhere near our average number - I would justify it for the hard-hitting Krebs.

My overall guess is, judging from what Adams gave Beck Malenstyn, or $1.35 million, the number for Krebs will probably reside somewhere in that realm, meaning the current average will drop as the 2024-25 season approaches. Or, Krebs could be part of an impending trade package, so for the time being, all options remain open.