Jack Eichel Was Sabres’ Best Value in 2016-17
I’m in the radio business… have been since 1982. In my business, ratings are everything. The higher the percentage of the audience you get listening to you, the more you can charge for advertising. It’s a simple premise. In this business we have a formula called “Cost Per Point” It’s a look at how much an advertiser pays per ratings point vs. other stations in the market.
I thought it might be fun to apply the same theory to the Sabres roster and calculate Cost Per Point, Cost Per Goal, Cost Per Scheduled Game and Cost Per Game Actually Played. Obviously the formula would not favor defensemen and forwards on a checking line or power play kill and would favor forwards and those players on the power play. Still, there were some really surprising results!
| Name | Position | Cap Hit | Points | Goals | Games | Per Point | Per Goal | Per Game |
| Jack Eichel | C | 925,000 | 57 | 24 | 61 | $16,228 | $38,542 | $15,164 |
| Ryan O'Reilly | C | 7,500,000 | 55 | 20 | 72 | $136,364 | $375,000 | $104,167 |
| Sam Reinhart | C | 894,167 | 47 | 17 | 79 | $19,025 | $52,598 | $11,319 |
| Kyle Okposo | R | 6,000,000 | 45 | 19 | 65 | $133,333 | $315,789 | $92,308 |
| Evander Kane | L | 5,250,000 | 43 | 28 | 70 | $122,093 | $187,500 | $75,000 |
| Brian Gionta | R | 4,250,000 | 35 | 15 | 82 | $121,429 | $283,333 | $51,829 |
| Matt Moulson | L | 5,000,000 | 32 | 14 | 81 | $156,250 | $357,143 | $61,728 |
| Marcus Foligno | L | 2,250,000 | 23 | 13 | 80 | $97,826 | $173,077 | $28,125 |
| Zemgus Girgensons | C | 1,150,000 | 16 | 7 | 75 | $71,875 | $164,286 | $15,333 |
| Tyler Ennis | L | 4,600,000 | 13 | 5 | 51 | $353,846 | $920,000 | $90,196 |
| Johan Larsson | C | 950,000 | 11 | 6 | 36 | $86,364 | $158,333 | $26,389 |
| William Carrier | L | 597,948 | 8 | 5 | 41 | $74,744 | $119,590 | $14,584 |
| Evan Rodrigues | L | 842,500 | 6 | 4 | 30 | $140,417 | $210,625 | $28,083 |
| Justin Bailey | R | 670,000 | 4 | 2 | 32 | $167,500 | $335,000 | $20,938 |
| Nick Baptiste | R | 718,333 | 4 | 3 | 14 | $179,583 | $239,444 | $51,310 |
| Derek Grant | C | 650,000 | 3 | 0 | 40 | $216,667 | N/A | $16,250 |
| Nicolas Deslauriers | L | 775,000 | 2 | 0 | 42 | $387,500 | N/A | $18,452 |
| Rasmus Ristolainen | D | 5,400,000 | 45 | 6 | 79 | $120,000 | $900,000 | $68,354 |
| Jake McCabe | D | 1,600,000 | 20 | 3 | 76 | $80,000 | $533,333 | $21,053 |
| Cody Franson | D | 3,325,000 | 19 | 3 | 68 | $175,000 | $1,108,333 | $48,897 |
| Zach Bogosian | D | 5,250,000 | 11 | 2 | 56 | $477,273 | $2,625,000 | $93,750 |
| Justin Falk | D | 538,039 | 8 | 0 | 52 | $67,255 | N/A | $10,347 |
| Taylor Fedun | D | 263,643 | 7 | 0 | 27 | $37,663 | N/A | $9,765 |
| Josh Gorges | D | 3,900,000 | 6 | 1 | 66 | $650,000 | $3,900,000 | $59,091 |
| Dmitry Kulikov | D | 4,333,334 | 5 | 2 | 47 | $866,667 | $2,166,667 | $92,199 |
Without getting too far into the weeds on the math, I used stats from last season and analyzed the top 25 scorers on the Sabres roster. Since the players are paid in salary, signing bonus and other incentives, I used the dollar figure that was their cap hit for last season. The numbers can be skewed for players who bounce between Rochester and Buffalo, were injured for an extended period or were healthy scratches.
For now we’ll filter out the defense men and just look at the forwards…here were the Sabres top 5 biggest bargains last year when analyzing Cost Per Point;
- Jack Eichel $16,228
- Sam Reinhart $19,025
- Zemgus Girgensons $71,875
- William Carrier $74,744
- Johan Larsson $86,364
You have to wonder how much Eichel’s CPP would have come down if he had a full season instead of 61 games.
Here are the top 5 most expensive forwards on the roster when calculating Cost Per Point;
- Nicolas Deslauriers $387,500
- Tyler Ennis $353,846
- Derek Grant $216,667
- Matt Moulson $156,250
- Ryan O’Reilly $136,364
I threw out Derek Grant, Justin Baliley and Evan Rodriguez because they played less than 40 games in Buffalo last year. To calculate a fair CPP for them you’d have to include the points the scored in Rochester, which I didn’t do.
Again throwing out the defensemen and looking at Cost Per Goal here are the top 5 bargains;
- Jack Eichel $38,542
- Sam Reinhart $52,598
- William Carrier $119,590
- Johan Larsson $158,333
- Zemgus Girggensons $164,286
Cost per goal was outrageous in my mind! Again, throwing out the defense and the forwards who played less than half a season;
Nick Deslauriers cap hit was $775,000… in 42 games he was held scoreless. Tyler Ennis 51 games, 5 goals $920,000 per goal, Ryan O’Reilly 72 games, 20 goals $375,000 per goal, Matt Moulson 81 games, 14 goals, $357,143 per goal, Kyle Okposo 65 games 19 goals $315,789.
Noticeably absent from any list is Evander Kane. Kane is a decent value for the Sabres He played in 70 games, scored 28 goals at a Cost Per Goal of $187,500 and 43 points at a Cost Per Point of $122,093.
Looking at the defense, Rasmus Ristolainen was the third highest paid Sabre with a cap hit of 5.4 million. He had 45 points at a CPP of $120,000. That was better CPP than 8 Sabre forwards who played 40 or more games!
Click here to view the entire top 25 list including defensemen. You can sort by Cap Hit, Points, Goals, Games Played, Cost Per Point, Cost Per Goal, Cost Per Game Scheduled and Cost Per Game Played.
…Next week, we’ll compare Sabre Cost Per Point to the league’s top scorers!
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