Buffalo Budget Woes: Sabres Hurt by the Salary Cap

Jean-Pierre Dumont is a hockey trailblazer.

Yesterday Dumont signed a 4-year, $16-million extension with the Nashville Predators—hardly anything resembling the lore of Lewis and Clark right?

Why don't you ask the Buffalo Sabres that question.

Way back in the 2005-06 season, Dumont was a member of the Buffalo Sabres. Despite missing 23 games with surgery for a sports hernia, he tallied 20 goals and 20 assists for an even 40 points, and even served as captain of the team for the month of January.

He also played a pivotal role in getting Buffalo to their first conference final since 1999, netting seven goals and seven assists in 18 games.

Then came his arbitration hearing.

As always, the player and the team were far apart on numbers: J.P. thought he was due for a big raise, while the Buffalo Sabres thought that Dumont, 11th in team scoring that season, wasn't worth a little more than the $1.6 million he earned the previous season.

The eventual award by the arbitrator was $2.9 million—$1.3 million more than the previous season. The ruling left Buffalo handcuffed.

They had already signed Daniel Briere to a one-year, $5-million deal (also awarded by an arbitrator) and were in the midst of constructing contracts for two restricted free agents: goaltender Ryan Miller and defenseman Dmitri Kalinin.

The Sabres elected to walk away from the awarded contract, so they could keep their cap space open to sign their RFAs and possibly have a chance to retain Daniel Briere and Chris Drury in the coming offseason as the two prepared to become free agents.

This was the fifth time a team had walked away from an arbitration offer since 1999.

Twenty-one days later, Dumont became a Nashville Predator, signing a two-year, $4.5 million dollar contract.

The fact is, the Sabres just weren't in a position to keep Dumont around; they had already let three quality players walk via free agency (Mike Grier to San Jose, Jay McKee to St. Louis, and Rory Fitzpatrick to Vancouver) and one via trade (Taylor Pyatt to Vancouver) just so they could have the space to sign Briere.

So Dumont began a list—a list that grows longer each offseason—of players who left Buffalo because their economic needs and the economic structure of the team didn't match.

The following year, both Briere and Drury left for greener pastures—completely nullifying any advantage not signing Dumont had gotten them. (The Sabres also could have had Briere for five years, $5 million per, but that's a story for a different day.)

This coming offseason it could very well be Brian Campbell.

Since Dumont has left Buffalo, he has recorded 39 goals, 72 assists, and 111 points in 134 games and recorded 6 points in 5 playoff games.

Buffalo has been lambasted for getting nothing in return for their stars, but if they had that extra $1.3 million lying around, maybe Dumont could've filled the shoes of Drury or Briere.

I certainly wouldn't have turned it down.

But I guess you just gotta deal in the Salary Cap Era.