He isn't that bad. He looked pretty good with Marino to start the year but then again Marino makes everyone look good

"Johnson Sucks"

this is news to literally no one

Marino being good does not make Johnson not bad. Marino with literally anyone else would be better. That means Johnson is bad.

Gonna need more incentive than McCann imo

Johnson is 3.99% of the cap. His hit doesn't hurt nearly as much as people make out. But then, most people don't understand $.

Crosby is the one that you need to convince to trade him, otherwise he will be a Penguin for 3 more years.

Accept it, you'll be happier for it.

It doesn't seem like GMJR is looking to replace Johnson, which is nuts, but apparently true.

Pitt definitely doesn't want to buy him out and he has absolutely no trade value.

It made me think that maybe the best option is to retain a small portion of his salary, even up to 33%.

If Pitt buries him in the AHL, they only save about a million. If they buy him out, they save more but the penalty is longer.

Maybe the should be seeking to ship him out with another player, maybe Murray? Then keep a portion of his contract.

Thoughts?

Thinking of his contract as a percentage is definitely a better approach but it doesn't change the sting. Championship rosters capitalize on extracting value from that remaining 20% of the cap, 3.99% of it going to JJ is the opposite of capitalizing.

jugs and Murray suck as well relative to their contracts sabres will pass

OTT decline.

McCann is not enough. We have a ton of bottom 6 C depth.

At what percentage does the hit hurt the team? 5%? In that case only Crosby, Malkin, Letang, Guentzel, Zucker & Hornqvist have hits that hurt. Now one can make an argument that one or two of those players should be moved, but the NTCs complicate that matter for 5 of them. The only one who isn't limited is Guentzel and I can't imagine finding a deal that brings in more value than he does right now.

When 7 or 8 players on the team are making 4%-5% I think its fair to recognize the negative value that some of them contribute regardless of the perceived significance of their cap hit. Is Johnson the only issue? Absolutely not, but he's one of the biggest drags on the roster...for the next 3 years.

Like I said, most people don't understand $.

Oh yes, can you please remind me again which goalie on the Buffalo World-Beaters has been tearing up the NHL?? I'm no Matt Murray mark and will readily admit he's looked down for a 1+ seasons now, but he's better and younger than anything the Sabres have at the NHL level right now.

Nice rebuttal. Feel free to enlighten the masses.

Yea, I don't understand what you mean here. Are you saying that he gets it, but others don't?

I think his point is pretty well said. Multiple poor contracts create a larger issue and Johnson's is one of the most glaring.

What part of that has him not understanding the money side?

Johnson's contract is not good, but it is not actually an issue. It is a mosquito bite. Nothing more. Giving up McCann just to move him is not necessary in any way.

I can see the logic there. My biggest issue isn't necessarily about the money and term, which in itself is obviously bad, it's how bad his performance is. Makes it feel like twice the burden. It's like we'd be gaining two players to simply have him removed from the roster.

It seems like a totally preventable error. A player with a completely illogical contract has been an absolute liability in the last 2 post seasons.

Using your analogy, if I have a misquito bite thats gonna kill me if it's not addressed I treat it differently than a normal one.

I don't think your point has to do with people not understanding money so much as not understanding the value of assets. And I don't disagree that giving up McCann to rid themselves of Johnson isn't necessary. It's merely one avenue to explore that frees up $5-6 million and also happens to remove the teams biggest liability that is otherwise immovable. What options does a team up against the cap (that flamed out BEFORE the playoffs) have to improve itself? They can either yield assets to move their most glaring weakness in order to free up cash, or they can swap valuable pieces for other valuable pieces and hope they find the right formula.

Ullmark was significantly better this year and has shown steady improvement each year. I would realistically expect him to be around .920 this year while Murray if he has a bounce back year may only be around .910 and likely gets paid 2 - 3 million less AAV which we can use to address our other needs.

The Pens will spend to the salary cap this year despite what you may have heard. HOWEVER, that doesn't mean that they will be spending all of that on actual salary. Kapanen only costs $2.1 million in actual salary the next two years, whereas his cap hit is $3.2 million (signing bonus paid by Toronto).

Johnson's contract is similar; he will be getting paid less than his cap hit. Advanced stats or regular, he is AWFUL. There's only one team I can think of that might be interested, and that is Ottawa. They will be garbage the next two years, and they lost some LTIR players so they will need help hitting the cap floor. Melnyk (the owner) is super cheap.

GMJR will try to move Bjugstad, because his salary will be $5.25 million, while his cap hit will be only $4.1 million. A big market team can afford that extra million plus, but who will want him?