Gosh I'd love to make that easy 5000$. Many teams would claim Colin White. It's not because Ottawa is scared to spend a few dollars that every team is. Worse case scenario if they need space (because for other teams it's not always about money, it's about cap space), they will bury salary in the AHL or retain salary in a transaction, buy out a player, etc.
I don't know how it's possible if some people who followed the NHL never heard of it but the "Sophomore Jinx" is something that happens a lot :
10 NHL Players Who Experienced the Sophomore Jinx
I know a lot people don't believe in it and think because McDavid doesn't go through it then it's a myth. But it's pretty logic and natural, don't want to go deep on the subject but the "brand new" element is gone to other teams, players will be checked tighter and will have the challenge to reproduce what they were able to do before, it's just part of the learning curve on how to be a pro.
White will bounce back next year, he will never be an offensive dynamo but Sens really won't need him to be with Batherson, Brown, Norris, Tkachuk, Duclair, Balcers and the 2 high first round picks coming up. Even Formenton, Pinto, Crookshank and Abramov could develop into more offensive forwards. What is important is that White develops his overall game and matures into his body.
Yes White is overpaid this year, yes his extension could have waited and they could have given him a "bridge deal" but let's not forget it was circumstantial after the massive exodus of talent. White and Chabot were signed long term to give hope to the fanbase. They really didn't need long-term contracts right away. Won't matter much anyway, the team is spending (salaries) way under the cap floor and 4.75 is about what White will eventually be worth, maybe 2 years too early but like I just explained it was needed.
So how many times do we still need to go around the question?