Sabres Ink Ennis For Five

The Buffalo Sabres took care of their last main restricted free agent on Thursday, signing scoring forward Tyler Ennis to a new 5-year deal, reportedly worth $23 million, which works out to be a $4.6 million cap hit.

With some of the money that the Sabres are throwing around in this off-season, there is very little reason to think that they will throw the 2015 regular season for a chance at the number one pick in the NHL Entry Draft.

Ennis finished the 2014 season with 21 goals and 43 points, ranking 108th among all forwards in scoring.  It wasn't Ennis' best season to date, as he did rank 73rd overall in the shortened 2013 season, so there is definitely some potential for improvement, according to his previous numbers.

Ennis could potentially line-up with Cody Hodgson and Matt Moulson to form the team's number one line, which could have some offensive punch and provide their opposition with a reason to check a little bit harder.  With the team adding Brian Gionta for leadership and some more blueline strength in Josh Gorges and Andrej Meszaros, the Sabres will be an interesting team to watch at the start of the year.

The Sabres don't have many spots to fill on their projected roster, as I have them in with 20 players already signed on to it for a reasonable cap figure of $52.7 million.  Buffalo has a number of prospects that are waiting in the wings and I would imagine that they will be drawing from that resource to fill out the rest of their roster.