BUFFALO – Tim Murray calls all the NHL salary floor speculation “very annoying.” The general manager is sick of discussing how the Sabres will reach the mark.
“I hear about it all the time,” Murray said this morning inside the First Niagara Center. “It’s a distraction.”
Right now, the Sabres have just $35,930,555 committed to 15 players for next season, according to capgeek.com, $18,080,834 under the floor.
Sometimes, Murray said, he’ll be interrupted during a meeting.
“Somebody walks in the door and starts talking about the floor,” he said. “It’s easy to spend money. I don’t like spending money.”
Still, Murray will be spending plenty of money soon. He has five restricted free agents, including slick center Tyler Ennis. He expects to be able to lure some free agents. He hasn’t ruled out re-signing some of his own UFAs, either.
“People want your money,” Murray said. “So it’s not hard to give away. It’s just the right players or the guys that we like, are they going to approach us to take our money?”
Ask Murray about the salary floor in late September, he said.
“We get 10 days from the season opener, I’m not there, then you guys can come back and say, ‘Why aren’t you at the floor?’” he said. “I don’t foresee a huge problem in that. There may be some bumps on the way.”