The day before free agency started saw two former Sabres decide to stay with their current teams – Paul Gaustad signed a 4 year, $14 million contract with the Nashville Predators that will see him earn $3.25 million per season, while goalie Martin Biron re-upped with the New York .Rangers for 2 years at $2.6 million.
Gaustad – who was shipped to Nashville at the trade deadline for a first-round pick that eventually became Zemgus Girgensons – is seeing a hefty raise over his already inflated salary of $2.3 million that he got for the past four seasons. Most Sabres fans wouldn’t have minded him returning to the team, but I think SB Nation’s Preds blogger, Dirk Hoag of On The Forecheck, puts its best:
Wow, that’s a lot of money and term to throw at a guy who plays the Penalty Kill/Faceoff Specialist role.
My initial take? This is way too much money and term to tie up with this kind of player.
On the other hand, fan favorite backup goalie Martin Biron decided to stay in New York backing up recent Vezina winner Henrik Lundqvist for another two season for reasonable money. Seems like nice work if you can get it.
As we head closer to what will likely be a weekend full of Monopoly money getting thrown around, Sabres fans can take some solace in finally being on the other side of a deal that everyone seems to be giggling at behind their backs.