Deals like the one Sabre Tyler Ennis received are better investments than overpaying on July 1.
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Tyler Ennis recently signed a new contract that’ll pay him $23 million over five years. It wasn’t your ordinary deal. In Year 1, Ennis will earn $7.3 million. He’ll follow that up by making $4.75 million in Year 2. The last three years, he’ll get paid $3.65 million. A potential bargain if Ennis can improve on two 20-goal seasons. In ’13-14, he tallied a career high 21 goals along with 22 assists. His 43 points trailed only team leading scorer Cody Hodgson (20-24-44).

By locking up Ennis long-term, the Sabres are banking on the 24-year old forward to perform consistently. Consistency is a good adjective to describe some of the deals we’ve seen handed out this summer. Ennis’ average cap hit is $4.6 million. Given the absurdity of NHL GMs, it’s in line with the market. Compared to Derick Brassard, who just signed a five-year $25 million deal with the Rangers, it’s a good gamble by Buffalo GM Tim Murray.

Over 267 career games, Ennis has recorded 69 goals and 97 assists totaling 166 points. By comparison, Brassard has 81 goals and 144 assists for 225 points in 403 games. He’s played longer but still hasn’t produced a 20-goal or 50-point season. Interestingly, Brassard’s contract was also frontloaded. In the first two years, he’ll earn $13 million including $7 million in Year 1. In fact, he’ll receive $18 million over the first three years before his salary drops to $3.5 million the final two years. That can make him more attractive for other teams. Similar to Ennis.

It’s an interesting dynamic. While Rick Nash’s salary will increase from $7.9 million to $8 million and then $8.2 million by 2017-18, Dan Girardi’s salary decreases. He’ll earn $7 million in each of the first two seasons. It’ll then go down to $6 million by Year 3 and then drop to $5 million in Year 4. The final two years, it drops to $4 million. Not every long-term deal does this. In Ryan McDonagh’s case, a modest $4.7 million cap hit through 2018-19 translates to $4.3 million this season and $4.5 million in 2015-16. By the final year, he’ll earn $5.3 million and remain a huge bargain. By locking him up last summer, the Rangers saved money. On the flipside, a bridge deal for Derek Stepan will result in him earning more than McDonagh next summer. What if Ranger GM Glen Sather had done a long-term deal instead? To be fair, he didn’t have enough space and squeezed Stepan, who caved after a holdout.

Here’s some food for thought. Devil architect Lou Lamoriello rewarded Adam Henrique with a six-year $24 million contract last summer. The 2012 playoff hero responded with a strong finish in Year 1 by leading the Devils with a career high 25 goals and adding 18 helpers totaling 43 points. On a low scoring team that relied mostly on Jaromir Jagr, Henrique was a bright spot also notching seven power play goals and a team-leading three shorthanded goals. With a favorable cap hit of $4 million thru 2018-19, the 24-year old center looks like a bargain. By the final year of the contract, he’ll earn $5.5 million. Henrique will be 29 by the conclusion.

Compared to seeing executives spend wildly on July 1 for veterans, it makes better financial sense to invest in younger players. What you’re seeing with Ennis, Brassard, Henrique and now Jake Gardiner, who signed a five-year deal worth $20.25 million with the Leafs- are teams paying for potential. A wiser bet than handing out crazy money for David Clarkson.

At least with younger players, they have room to grow and shouldn’t break down as much. Barring injuries or unforeseen lack of production (ex. Ville Leino), it’s usually a safer bet. The more teams invest in younger assets, the better.