Quoting: Shibbal18
They can over spend on a goalie, guaranteeing they have an above average starter next year, this has been done a million times. Hitting the cap floor isnt nearly as hard as getting under the cap ceiling. The Sabres have no reason to spend anything for Panik or any vet you name when they can get them for cash. So yeah, if you want our cap space, you pay. Its not spending the 201st pick thats the problem, its letting teams dump garbage off on this team and not being compensated for it that is. Not only that, Panik was in the AHL. The Islanders didnt finish that much higher than Buffalo, and if the Sabres didnt lose Anderson for 4 months they easily could have made up that 4.5 game gap. So why would Panik be playing for Buffalo when he couldnt even make the Islanders roster, the Sabres have a bigger log jam
Panik might not be the fit for the Sabres (at the very least though, you can make the argument that he adds $375K to the floor if you bury him in Rochester?) but I still think they are going to have issues playing all the young guys -and- getting near the floor.
Hypothetically, here's how they look with the young guys in the lineup next year:
Skinner-Thompson-Olofsson(probably re-signs at $5M AAV)
JJP-Cozens-Tuch
Asplund-Mittelstadt-Quinn
Rustalainen-Girgensons-Okposo
Dahlin-Jokiharju
Power-RD2
Samuelsson-Bryson/Fitzgerald
UPL
Throw Bjork & Biro in as 13th/14th forwards, sign another guy for $1M to be 7th D, and you're still $12M below the floor with really only two spots to fill.
What goalie are you overpaying for? The top guys (MAF, Kuemper, Campbell) aren't signing a deal in Buffalo. Ville Husso is probably the only realistic option, but you're probably signing him to a 4/5 year deal based on -1- good season. And once you get past that you're deep in Koskinen Kountry - a whole bunch of bad goalies that aren't going to cost more than $2-2.5M on a one year deal. You run into the same problem at RD, which is the other spot that the Sabres need some help at - I don't think that they're going to go hard in the running for Letang or Klingberg, and once you get past them you're looking at the likes of PK Subban or Justin Schultz as UFAs that conceivably get you there, and do you really want to spend $4M on those types of guys?