[The Athletic] LeBrun rumblings: A Sabres spending spree, plus the latest on Brind’Amour, Lindholm and Scheifele

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1. >There is risk and there is calculated risk.

   >Buffalo Sabres general manager Kevyn Adams believes he’s banked on the latter in locking up five young core pieces over the past 14 months.

   >To recap, the Sabres signed:

   >>• Tage Thompson to a seven-year, $50 million extension on Aug. 30, 2022, a deal that kicked in this season.

   >>• Mattias Samuelsson to a seven-year, $30 million extension on Oct. 12, 2022, a contract that kicked in this season.

   >>• Dylan Cozens to a seven-year, $49.7 million extension on Feb. 7, 2023, a deal that kicked in this season.

   >>• Rasmus Dahlin to an eight-year, $88 million extension on Monday, a deal that kicks in next season.

   >>• Owen Power to a seven-year, $58.45 million extension on Wednesday, a contract that begins next season.

   >That’s more than $276 million in all for those five core players.

   >It’s a bet that the salary cap will go up next year and then — obviously, when you’re dolling out seven- and eight-year extensions — just keep going up from there.

   >Commissioner Gary Bettman said last week that the cap is projected to rise to around $87 million or $88 million, which would indeed be an increase from $83.5 million. I have some reservations about whether the long-term growth will be so aggressive, though — given the Bally regional TV debacle and, even more so, the world economy (but that’s a discussion for another day).

   >The cap will go up. It’s just a matter of how much when there’s uncertain variance looking ahead five or six years.

   >In the here and now, I still think the Sabres have probably gambled wisely and ensured some stability as the heart of what they hope is sustainable success as their window opens.

   >“If you go back, honestly, a couple of years, what I’ve talked a lot about was, we need to be drafting really well, we need to develop our own, and then we need to identify the core pieces that we feel are guys we can build around and then we need to be pro-active and lock guys up long term that we think we can win with,” Adams told me Thursday.

   >“It has to work both ways. You also have to have buy-in from the players that they truly want to be here and want to be here long-term, and fortunately, we’ve been able to do that now with a number of players. But certainly, you’re projecting your own situation one, three, five years, now as long as nine years out because of Dahlin’s extension. And you never know exactly where the cap will go.

   >“You are projecting when you’re building out your model, for sure.”

   >There are no guarantees. But the danger in doing the opposite, signing too many bridge deals instead with core players and waiting to get a clearer picture of the salary cap year by year, is that you likely end up paying the higher, going rates as the market shifts up.

   >Again, it’s a calculated risk, taking the long-term approach instead.

   >So is believing that those core players won’t let long-term financial security change their approach.

   >“You really want to make sure that these are people that have such a passion that, no matter what, they’re going to get up every day and love coming to the rink,” Adams said. “And you believe they have a chance to continue to get better. That’s a key thing.

   >“What we’ve also done with the long-term contracts is that we’ve done it with guys who are going into their prime years — years that we believe are their best years and will also allow them to keep growing and getting better. That, for me, is critical in how you build a franchise.”

   >And finally, it also sends a message.

   >“A huge message, to our organization, to our city, to the entire hockey world, that you have these players who are obviously highly talented, willing to commit long-term and want to be here,” Adams said. “It’s a big thing for us.”

   >It’s an exciting time to be a Sabres fan.

   This is what the Sabres’ cap structure [looks like](https://imgur.com/krK4x7Q) with Power’s extension assuming the cap increases by the max 5% for the next three years like it’s rumored too and then levels out at a 2.5% increase after that (you can download the spreadsheet [here](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/12vI2KiPC5VorDyKhUJT649OS6zMydOhLh676tQQHXs0/edit?usp=sharing) if you want a copy for yourself).