That was a different era, teams had counted on the cap increasing about 5% a year and gave out contracts accordingly - then COVID came along, and the cap was flat for about 5 years - so teams that had counted on $10-20M in additional cap room by the end of that period found themselves in cap hell. In that case, cap room had high value as a currency since teams needed to obtain room to keep their core players.
Now the cap is escalating at 10% or more for the next few years, money had gone into escrow to compensate owners for their losses while revenues increased - so suddenly the cap was well behind revenue growth and is playing catchup.
In this case, teams like the Flyers face little risk giving out these contracts.
Since most of their young players won't get big money extensions for a few years (and with contracts limited to 7 years, they may start some with 2 year bridge contracts at 21 or 22, then give the 7 year deal at 23-24, ending at age 29-30), Briere will have excess cap room for the next 4-5 seasons.
For example, in 2026, $40M before Zegras and Drysdale, in 2027, $60M minus those two before Michkov and Foerster. So we're talking $20+M both seasons after you given extensions.
So the downside risk is Comcast's money, not cap room. If Dvorak (or Couts for that matter) fall off in the out years of their contract, retain 50% and trade them for a bag of pucks. Meanwhile, the team remains competitive and you buy time for young centers like Jett, Berglund, Ruohonen, Nesbitt, Gard, Quinn to develop.
