Sabres Show Why Cap Space is Crucial

(Since this isn't a Bruins post, I'm not putting it on the front page.)

The Sabres picked up Robyn Regehr and Ales Kotalik and a second round pick for Chris Butler and Paul Byron.  Regehr is a definite top 4 defenseman.  He's essentially what we Bruins fans always hoped Mark Stuart would become; a guy who can't score, but hits a ton and can be trusted to keep another team's top line off the scoreboard.  He's being paid $4M for the next two years and is probably worth it.  They also got Ales Kotalik who, well, probably should find a vocation other than playing hockey.  But he's getting paid $3M next year...so, maybe he found the right job despite his lack of an actual hockey-based skill set.

Calgary was in awful cap shape, with an equally bad farm system, which is unfortunate because they're also not a very good hockey team.  (I'll take "things Darryl Sutter won't list on his resume for $1000, Alex".)  Essentially, they paid Buffalo a second round pick to take these two contracts off their hands.  And the Sabres could do it, because even after these deals, they are $12.4M under the salary cap, without any significant free agents they want to resign. 

So, Buffalo filled a hole, picked up a plum draft pick, and gave up nothing but renting their cap space out for a year. All because Darryl Sutter is a terrible GM.

Thank goodness Peter Chiarelli actually understands the salary cap.