Then trade his ass.

If he is traded now and retires at 35, the Sabres get 3 years of $3.33M cap penalty. Cap will be $80M by then
- muffin_man

I would rather have money available to pay guys that are actually on the ice. That's still 3.3 million that could be going to somebody that's contributing.

It's actually 1/2 that! The team that acquires him would get 50% of the cap recapture as well...
- riceroni

Nope. The team acquiring him gets a penalty for any benefit they get against the cap. Almost all the benefit years have been paid. If he plays until 35, the team acquiring him would actually be losing cap space over the next 4 years as he is due $15M in salary and has a $16M cap hit. Capgeek has a calculator and explains it well

I would rather have money available to pay guys that are actually on the ice. That's still 3.3 million that could be going to somebody that's contributing.
- SabrePride716

3.3M in an $80M cap world will be a 4th liner. I exaggerate obviously but it won't get you much of a player and you're losing out on a 1st rounder, good prospect, or whatever in the process. Not to mention you've lost a top 4 dman on a great cap hit.

I'm quite shocked they did this at all. His cap hit is extremely low for a defenseman of his caliber and he carries that cap hit for likely the rest of his career. I seriously doubt he's untradeable and now I'm starting to question Murray's motives on this one. I really liked Ehrhoff and I'm sure a team like the Oilers or Avs would've taken him. This buyout is gonna bite us in the back later with the recapture penalties. Hopefully there was a legitimate reason on this.
- SabresNHL

There are no recapture penalties on a compliance buyout

There are no recapture penalties on a compliance buyout
- muffin_man

Ok I thought the new CBA had that in there.

Are the Sabres going to win 8 games next season???
- riceroni

9.

Ok I thought the new CBA had that in there.
- SabresNHL

The new CBA put in the buyouts to give teams to make up for the monster retirement contracts that were suddenly made illegal or subject to recapture.

Notice how the Hawks aren't using one on Hossa? The benefits outweigh a little penalty down the road (and yes, I know the windows are different)

9.
- mhp

I'll take the under.

edit: On the plus side, stubhub tickets will be dirty cheap

9.
- mhp

I honestly dont care how many they win as long as the beat the Islanders every time they play. So what's that? 3 games? So I hope they win at least 3 games.

Also it wouldnt surprise me if someone takes Ehrhoff off of the unconditional waivers. Any team is going to have to pay him more than 4mil if they sign him as a UFA.

Then trade his ass.

If he is traded now and retires at 35, the Sabres get 3 years of $3.33M cap penalty. Cap will be $80M by then
- muffin_man

People keep saying this, yet we've seen that there's clearly a level of the cap that they don't want to go above. Idk how fast we'll see an $80M cap.

People keep saying this, yet we've seen that there's clearly a level of the cap that they don't want to go above. Idk how fast we'll see an $80M cap.
- isles10289

huh?

The cap is at 69M right now because the NHLPA wouldn't let the league include the new Canadian TV money. It will be included next year I assume. Add in the 15 outdoor games and the 90% increase in Rangers tickets for going to the finals...

The Canadian dollar going down 10% over the last year is the biggest reason the cap isn't over 70M laready even without the TV money

Are the Sabres going to win 8 games next season???
- riceroni

I'll take the over. In a 162 game season....oh, wait, that's baseball. Let me think about that.

9.
- mhp

Moves like this are why the NHL instituted the Lottery. I don't want to hear Tim whine about it any more. Best defenceman on the team with a $4M cap it and he lets him walk. I think Jim Benning might have been the best choice.

Back to Vancouver?????

Moves like this are why the NHL instituted the Lottery. I don't want to hear Tim whine about it any more. Best defenceman on the team with a $4M cap it and he lets him walk. I think Jim Benning might have been the best choice.
- DGrant

Ha. That's a pretty quick judgement. I am willing to reserve mine until the end of the off season. I would be truly shocked if he doesn't have something lined up. We will probably have to wait at least until Tuesday to see what.

If this is true Ehrhoff just won the lottery. He gets the rest of his contract plus whatever he is about to get paid. He automatically becomes the top D UFA on the market. I wish they could have made a conditional trade that stated if he was going to retire he would be traded back to Buffalo to be bought out and bypass the recap issue. He would otherwise be a valuable trade chip.
- Themomentgood

plus he gets off the worst team in the league by a country mile

I'm quite shocked they did this at all. His cap hit is extremely low for a defenseman of his caliber and he carries that cap hit for likely the rest of his career. I seriously doubt he's untradeable and now I'm starting to question Murray's motives on this one. I really liked Ehrhoff and I'm sure a team like the Oilers or Avs would've taken him. This buyout is gonna bite us in the back later with the recapture penalties. Hopefully there was a legitimate reason on this.
- SabresNHL

Please explain what you mean by questioning his motives.

plus he gets off the worst team in the league by a country mile
- GardinerExpress

Eh. Depends on what 'worst' means. I would say finishing every year as a bubble playoff team is worse than finishing last a couple years at the right time and then becoming an annual contender.

According to Yahoo and blank the maximum recapture penalty would have been $10 million. If he retired with 1 year left on his contract, that would be the penalty.

Moves like this are why the NHL instituted the Lottery. I don't want to hear Tim whine about it any more. Best defenceman on the team with a $4M cap it and he lets him walk. I think Jim Benning might have been the best choice.
- DGrant

This is an amazingly ignorant comment.

You have to give a new gm atleast a few years before you start making judgements on if he was the correct choice or not.

Also, by saying what you did above, you are implying Murray is an idiot and you know way more and would have never done what he did.

Thanks for your opinion champ.

Reed more. Post less.

According to Yahoo and blank the maximum recapture penalty would have been $10 million. If he retired with 1 year left on his contract, that would be the penalty.
- LetsGoBuffalo75

I read that too. That would be really unacceptable at a time they are going to be at the top of the cap.

plus he gets off the worst team in the league by a country mile
- GardinerExpress

He is leaving Buffalo not Toronto

Moves like this are why the NHL instituted the Lottery. I don't want to hear Tim whine about it any more. Best defenceman on the team with a $4M cap it and he lets him walk. I think Jim Benning might have been the best choice.
- DGrant

Fine, then let's get a 10 million cap recapture penalty when the chode retires early, and completely ruins any competitive team we have. It was a smart move.

Buffalo making sure they finish last.

Just goes to show that the guys on WGR are not that smart....yeah Erhoff has more value than Myers......now what are they going to say?

I cant' believe that there was not a team that would not have taken Erhoff in a trade!

Sabres must be getting ready to spec some extra money on July 1 because otherwise they would not have needed Erhoff's money......it can't be because they are tanking......they already tanked with Erhoff in the line up.

PS the one caller who called in and said get rid of Erhoff because he would not pass the puck to Ristolannen had it right...Shope and the Bulldog....boy were you guys wrong!@!!!!!