The contracts being signed this offseason, for the most part, range from silly to downright idiotic. Several teams have painted themselves into serious corners and I am curious to see how it will work out. The teams that have managed to stay relatively clear of stupid contracts have been patient and quiet so far in the offseason and I think they will benefit greatly from it.
So far, only a handful of teams are currently spending at a rate that would bring them under the salary cap: Pittsburgh, Dallas, St. Louis, Carolina, Edmonton, Atlanta, Washington, Philadelphia, Chicago, Los Angeles, Nashville, and Buffalo. That's twelve out of thirty. The rest of the teams have done some funky math that may lead them into trouble. Specifically, they may end up trading valuable assets at way below market valuable just to clear cap room.
The worst offenders are New Jersey, Vancouver, Tampa, Ottawa, and Boston. Each of those teams have less than a million dollars available per player to complete their roster. If they have prospects ready to make the leap, that will help, but several have RFAs that need signing and it ain't happening. New Jersey's case is just bizarre - they will have to trade or just choose not to sign very good players because they can't afford it. Between the Mogilny and Malakhov salaries and RFAs such as Scott Gomez and Brian Gionta, they are between a rock and a hard place.
Vancouver has just under 34 million dollars tied up in 11 players. Tampa and Ottawa aren't in that different spots, and I can't fathom how Boston thinks they could afford Zdeno Chara and Mark Savard for a total of 12.5 million, over a quarter of their available cap space.
Anyway, I wouldn't be surprised to see some of the more fiscally responsible teams outright steal some players before the season starts. I mean, it could get ugly. I think New Jersey in particular could be walking funny by the time opening night arrives. It's just a matter of who gives Lou an offer that causes him to vomit the least.
Update: Vancouver managed to get rid of 2.55 million in Cloutier for a second round pick. Not a bad deal for them. I'm updating my information now with recent moves and I'll take another look at it.
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3 comments:
Chris,
Thanks for the link. I'll get you up on my site today.
I look forward to reading your thoughts this year as the Canes defend the Cup.
Take care,
Drew
New Jersey put themselves between Scylla and Charybdis last summer, too. The Elias situation prevented them from being in a heap of trouble, and if you recall, they had to get rid of Jeff Friesen at firesale prices.
The only reason Buffalo isn't in any cap trouble is that they haven't signed anybody. They presently have only five guys under contract. They have 12 guys filing for arbitration, which could make things ugly for them. It'll be fun to watch that pan out.
Yeah, the Buffalo situation bears watching.
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