Sabres have reportedly signed Rasmus Dahlin to a monster deal

According to a report from Buffalo Sabres insider Chad DeDominics, the team has signed star defenseman and former 1st overall pick Rasmus Dahlin to an eight year contract worth $10 million per season.

From DeDominics:

Dahlin, of course, isn't eligible to sign a contract extension until July 1st, but DeDominics reports that the two sides have a deal in principle and will merely wait out the rest of this month before officially putting pen to paper.

Now... here's the thing.

$80 million is a lot of money. Eight years is a long time. 

But if you don't think Dahlin is worth every penny then you simply haven't been paying close enough attention. The 23 year old blueliner has blossomed the past two years and put up an incredible 15 goals and 73 points in 78 games for the Sabres this season. He improved his +/- stats from -22 last season to +12 this season. He even garnered some Norris Trophy consideration, an award that I suspect he'll be in the running for every year for the next decade.

In other words, Dahlin is absolutely worth $10 million per season and this deal might even wind up looking like a steal if Dahlin's development continues into the prime of his career.