Good morning, everyone — or good afternoon or evening, whenever you're tuning in. Welcome back to the premier spot for all things NHL salaries. We've got plenty to dig into this week, including a trade and a couple of signings.

Josh Doan signs a seven-year, $48.65M ($6.95AAV) deal with the Sabres Sabres

Back in the way back, when I dabbled with going on television, we would have little signs in the studio for things to remember to say or possibly a correction, and if I could go back to that small little office at university then there would be 8.5 x 11 pieces of paper with a message in permanent marker that say JOSH Doan…because inevitably Shane Doan would potentially come to mind. Anyway, let's talk about Josh Doan and the Arizo- *Buffalo Sabres.

I'm not one to rush and to any transaction to declare a "winner" or "loser", but Buffalo looks like they did a fantastic job on their end of acquiring Josh Doan and Michael Kesselring for J.J. Peterka. A trade at the time where we potentially favored the Utah side along with weird random Chicago Blackhawks threads that linked Peterka to Chicago…the fake trades that people shared me on those threads and Tweets would keep you all up at night. For Doan, he'll be turning 24 on Sunday (happy birthday from all of us here at DobberHockey), and has just signed a contract that allows him to now cash in at 23 for seven seasons, and potentially another five- or six-year payday down the road. I can see on the surface on how this may look like an overpay, or maybe too early too soon, on this deal but if anything, this is a commitment by the Sabres, and their ownership. I say ownership here because in this deal, Doan will receive $7M in signing bonuses this offseason and next, while no other current Sabre has that structured in their current contract. For this being Jarmo Kekalainen's first signing since being named GM, and the confidence in ownership with a cash commitment, this to me points that this club is serious about contending and creating sustained success. Remember, it's all about being relevant in the second week of May, because if you're relevant in the second week of May, anything can happen.

I imagine those out there with Josh Doan in salary leagues got the extension notification and probably had a reaction that was only reinforced by your leagues group chat. If you roster Doan now, don't panic, as I do believe most other clubs in the NHL may have signed him to around this same number and this is a player that I think you'll be more than happy to make the space for. You could be creating space for a player that consistently falls in the 55–60-point range, with the added upside and fantasy scoring with how active he is on the Sabres power play, with 12 PP points already on the season. Again, I understand now being forced to create $6M in available cap space but most salary teams have a player sitting around the $4M AAV mark that at one point or another has been on the chopping block, that could be used to help absorb Doan's AAV next season. This also could be the perfect spot to try and trade a lower AAV player for a later pick if your league operates this way and you have the options in your minor league availability to do so. If your league is like mine, this is something that can happen in two minutes or less…everyone is so eager to trade I swear a quarter of the league will make a trade on a slow workday just because.

Sam Malinski signs a four-year, $19M ($4.75AAV) deal with the Avalanche

For a club like the Avalanche where not a whole heckuva lot has gone well, it's nice to see them come to an agreement with Sam Malinski. Kidding of course, but Malinski is a player I have had my eye on since the early part of December. So much so that I have tried to trade for him a couple times in my salary league…the person I was trying to work a deal with knew what value he had. I thought I put together a competitive offer but just want a reminder for all you GM's out there working a trade remember – your first offer must be your best offer.

This is an excellent contract for the Avalanche and to me, that $4.75M means that he is going to be a first or second pair defenseman on this club, as I can't see the Avalanche, or most clubs, reaching an agreement for that AAV for a bottom pair defenseman. My guess is down the road this likely means that Sam Girard will not receive an extension from the Avalanche (or a lower valued one), with Malinski now signed and of course the looming Cale Makar extension coming up. Malinski right now has a fantastic on-ice goal percentage to go right along with playing on both sides of the blueline this season, and while he is on a four-game pointless streak, I believe will be a player that contributes near 30 shots on goal per 20 games played falling around the 9–11-point mark. With Cale Makar currently on this roster, the power play exposure will be the low side but that's also keeping in mind that at even strength there is a good chance that he will be paired with Makar, going out with the Avalanche top-line.

For those in salary cap league, I love two things when it comes to offense and if you've been reading along since I've been at this then you know what they are. Scoring from the C and scoring from the blueline. Check your leagues waivers for defensemen right now and I'd imagine that it's all Artem Zub/Mario Ferraro type of blueliners with their range in AAV. With this extension in place, you can be assured that Malinski will remain on an elite offensive club and while the higher AAV could force you into creating space on your balance sheet, I do think that he could have gotten a million or so more if he did decide to go to market. I also wanted to share this for all my salary/dynasty warriors out there…if Sam Malinski is set to make $4.75M AAV a season, then what is Darren Raddysh or even Makar going to collect when it's their turn? For a player like Raddysh I do think $7-$8M is in play and for Makar…that's a conversation for another day. This is something to think about if you're rostering a solid offensive defenseman that is at or coming up on their RFA/UFA season, as a rising tide lifts all boats, so to speak.

The New York Islanders acquire Ondrej Palat, a 2026 3rd round pick, and a 2027 6th round pick from the New Jersey Devils for Maxim Tsyplakov

I'm not going to spend a ton of time here, but this is a trade worth mentioning for fantasy implications. When the notification came my way after dinner last night, I looked at it like a text about going out on a Saturday to a bar in the NW suburbs. You like the idea…but also not…somewhere in the middle maybe? Both players involved in this transaction have largely gone quiet so far this season and do think that this could remain the case as we move forward.

For New York, they get the player that was, at one time, what feels like 3,000 years ago…offsides in a Conference Finals game. I totally did not have any rubles on the line in that one. I currently roster Ondrej Palat in my salary league for two reasons – I'm new to the league and the pickins are slim. He's been a player that I cut from my roster at one point and then had to bring back with the litany of injuries that populated my roster. I do wonder, if the play style in New York can better facilitate Palat's game to gear him closer to the player that he was when he came over from Tampa Bay and that is something to watch for if you're out there rostering him as well. This was at one point, a 50-point player, and while I don't believe we see any sort of production like that replicated for an age-34 player, this is someone who may be able to produce at an improved rate on a new team. The Isles are in a salary cap maze right now with their roster and some of their higher dollar players on IR so it will be interesting to see how they navigate their cap.

For Maxim Tsyplakov, I show on our site that he is 0% rostered on Fantrax and Yahoo…is that true? Am I truly shouting into the woods about Tsyplakov like Dr. Loomis in Halloween? I checked my league where he's rostered, but my league is enormous and there are few players who aren't. It's all league dependent, but if you're like me in a large field league and have around $2.5M in spend and in need of a forward, I could see taking a flyer on Tsyplakov. I'm curious why his playing time on the Isles has diminished to the point of them moving him, but I want to point out that this is a player that had 13 points in the first 20 games of last season, and 11 points in the first 20 games this season. That's not light-the-world-on-fire offense, but 13 points in that timeframe for a player under the $3M AAV watermark is valuable in salary leagues. I get that this season may be a wash but going into next season maybe he's a player that you keep an eye for waivers if he becomes available or becomes a "throw in" piece on a trade.