Actually, one of the advantages the Pegulas have brought to the Sabres and the Bills is the willingness to frontload contracts which allows the players to actually earn more money by investing that years earlier than otherwise. There are a number of teams that use "cash to cap" which prevent them from spending cash in that manner despite the cap hit being spread out.
It also makes said contracts much more attractive in a trade because much of the cash has been paid out. In addition, it makes restructuring more enticing to a player because they received a lot of the cash from the existing deal and a new deal would give them more cash while helping the teams cap situation.