So Kevin Hayes was betting on himself when he signed the one year deal? I don't think so. Until a player becomes a UFA the ball is in management's court; All the player can do is hold out. On the other hand, Marc Stone wanted a one year deal so he could run away from OTT as fast as he can next summer.

The problem is we're all just speculating. We don't know who wanted what. Obviously there was a compromise here. Also, Botterill doesn't wanna make the same mistakes that his predecessor made by overpaying guys like Okposo, Moulson, and Pominville on long term deals. BUF had one of the worst GM's in league history in Tim Murray and I'm sure they wanna learn from his mistakes as much as possible. Worst case for BUF now is Reinhart has a huge breakout couple of seasons and then gets a new deal worth $7M AAV. It's a conservative move, but look at where BUF has been in the standings for the last 10 years.

after 3 years more of making 6-7 mil. i dont get why you dont get that sort term deals are bad for players. every game has risk of injury and could be last so the longer you sign for is better for player not team.

Josh Morrissey wanted short term because he understood he can get paid significantly more if he waits a few years. At the same time the team wanted him long term but were unwilling to pay for potential production. There's a good chance he can get 50-60 million contract next July. Now the money was probably around 40-45 million (eight years). Of course the player wants long term but he doesn't necessarily agree on the money if he believes he can get a lot more.

This was right about where I expected SR to sign, both wrt term and AAV.

Being able to get a 3rd year at sub 4M would have been an extra bonus (letting his contract end in the final summer before UFA) as things will start getting pricy in 2 years time. Affordable complementary pieces are vital. With all that said, the 2y term isn’t bad.

The signing took so long as there was a significant variance between SR’s 1st and 2nd half last season. Had he shown that all year it is possible we would be looking at a longer term deal. But with what he is shown to date, it wouldn’t be advantageous to either side to sign long term as he wouldn’t get much above 4.5-5M per season (based on past performance) - a large risk for the Sabres if he doesn’t improve at all - and a risk for SR as he could be making 50% more than that in 2 years should his 2nd half surge not be a mirage.