BUFFALO – If a team swoops in and gives restricted free agent Bowen Byram an offer sheet, general manager Kevyn Adams said the Sabres are prepared to match it.
“The moves we’ve made and the position we’ve put ourselves in from the cap perspective has been strategic,” Adams said prior to Wednesday’s session of development camp in LECOM Harborcenter. “If you leave just enough room in your cap that where maybe you see a projection on a one-year deal and then someone comes over the top, you’re putting your organization in a really tough spot.
“So the moves we’ve made and the decisions we’ve made for weeks now leading up to this point is with that in mind. And so, no, we’ll be matching.”
Teams that don’t match offers sheets receive compensation based on the average annual value of the contract. For example, if a team signs a player to an offer sheet worth $11,700,193 per season, they must send back four first-round picks.
Right now, the Sabres have $12,865,319 of projected salary cap space, according to Puckpedia.com. On Monday, they traded forward Sam Lafferty and his $2 million cap hit to the Chicago Blackhawks.
In addition to Byram, they have two unsigned RFAs: goalie Devon Levi and defenseman Conor Timmins.
Byram, 24, has established himself as one of the NHL’s top young defensemen. With captain Rasmus Dahlin and Owen Power entrenched on the blue line, there’s speculation Byram could be traded to acquire a first- or second-line forward.
The Sabres dealt winger JJ Peterka to the Utah Mammoth last week, creating a need for another scorer.
“It’s a lot of conversations with (Byram’s) agent right now, and nothing’s changed in the sense that we believe Bo is an excellent hockey player who can help our team win,” Adams said. “I’ve maintained the same position that if there’s a deal out there that makes sense for us that we think improves our roster, we’re open to it.
“But if there’s not, we’re not in a situation where we’re looking to move him out or looking to move him for futures and stuff like that.”
The Sabres’ current blue line comprises Byram, Dahlin, Power, Timmins, Michael Kesselring and Mattias Samuelsson, with Jacob Bryson and Ryan Johnson possibly the extra defenders.
They acquired Kesselring and Timmins in trades last week. They also added depth by signing defensemen Mason Geertsen and Zac Jones in free agency and re-signing Jack Rathbone.
Realistically, Geertsen, 30, will likely begin the season with the Rochester Americans. Jones, 24, could earn an NHL roster spot as an extra, a role he knows well having played 46 games for the New York Rangers last season and often sitting out as a healthy scratch.
Adams said the Sabres did not expect Jones to be available as a free agent.
“He’s just a talented player, so I think he could play different roles,” he said. “I think that he’s going to come in and push and add competition.”
So, why did the Sabres on Monday refuse to give right-shot defenseman Jacob Bernard-Docker an $866,250 qualifying offer, making him an unrestricted free agent?
Bernard-Docker, 25, played 15 games last season after arriving in a trade from the Ottawa Senators.
“Where his projected salary was going to come out and where we had him potentially slotted, in the eighth spot, call it, with the moves that we had made over the last few days before it, just felt like that didn’t make sense,” Adams said.
Bernard-Docker, who signed a one-year contract with the Detroit Red Wings, also had arbitration rights.
“I really like JBD, he’s a good kid, he’s a good player,” Adams said. “But … (the qualifying offer) was a lot lower than what the arbitration award would have been.”