After trading Jack Eichel on Thursday, the Buffalo Sabres picked up some key pieces as part of their push towards being a younger and more competitive team in the future. The problem with the move was that they didn’t pick up much in the way of salary from the Vegas Golden Knights and didn’t retain any of Eiche’s $10 million contract. As such, they needed to make a cap move.
After the trade of Eichel went down, the Sabres made another move, acquiring Johnny Boychuk’s contract from the New York Islanders. The deal is for future considerations and Boychuk is essentially retired from the game of hockey, which means he’ll never suit up for the Sabres.
Sabres GM Kevyn Adams talked about the deal and noted:
This move is important because it gives us flexibility throughout the season from a roster perspective. There are different conversations that we’ve had with many teams. The key for us was to give us flexibility without compromising where our current roster stands.
The move ensures Buffalo will remain above the salary cap floor and because 60% of Boychuk’s deal is covered by insurance, at worst, the Sabres will have to pay around $500K on a contract that has a $6 million cap hit. Buffalo will likely move Boychuk from LTIR to regular IR to make sure the cap hit counts on their books.
Deal Helps the Islanders Too
Moving Boychuk offers the Islanders some flexibility as well since they were operating in long-term injured reserve relief. Working in that environment meant the Islanders couldn’t accrue cap space throughout the year and dealing Boychuk now puts the team below the $81.5 million cap ceiling. Essentially, they can add a player during the season now, when it would have been extremely challenging otherwise.
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