Another thing people don't consider is that Terry Pegula isn't afraid to throw down a lot of cash on players up front. Take our most recent big contract, the O'Reilly deal.
http://www.spotrac.com/nhl/buffalo-sabres/ryan-oreilly/
His cap hit is $7.5 mil, but he'll be taking home $
11 million in pay this season. This kind of creative structuring and ridiculously rich owner could swing things -- it would certainly be enticing to get a $10+ million signing bonus on July 1st.