Zajac signed long-term

[lucifer316]

i disagree he had that much leverage first he has to perform second there has to be a team with cap space that can lure him away third it has to be a team he wants to go to

with a shrinking cap i think he has much less leverage than people think

[Instant Karma]

...with a shrinking cap i think he has much less leverage than people think

Well, assuming you're right, he and his agent did really well for themselves without leverage.

On the bright side, hopefully this means that his health concerns are in the past.

[chuckcouples]

I think it is exactly a market value deal. The average #1 center has a cap hit of $5,712,644 for this season. If you don't include the 5 #1 centers who do not have a contract for next season, that average goes up to $5,857,667. I believe Zajac is no worse than an average #1 center in the NHL and should be paid like one. That is likely what both Lou and Zajac's agent were thinking.

[lucifer316]

I think it is exactly a market value deal. The average #1 center has a cap hit of $5,712,644 for this season. If you don't include the 5 #1 centers who do not have a contract for next season, that average goes up to $5,857,667. I believe Zajac is no worse than an average #1 center in the NHL and should be paid like one. That is likely what both Lou and Zajac's agent were thinking.

the problem is all of those deals were signed under the old cba and should really have no bearing on this deal

new cba and new cap means that the market changes

[NoWayOut]

If Zajac got $5.75M I'm scared to see what Benn signs for...

One of my first thoughts was this just torpedoed the talks between Benn and the Stars. Talks will resume once Benn and his agent stop dancing....

[dyzfunctioned]

One of my first thoughts was this just torpedoed the talks between Benn and the Stars. Talks will resume once Benn and his agent stop dancing....

Still... the Stars highest cap-hit is $4.6M right now. I can't see them shelling out THAT much... they've been pretty damn conservative with contracts in the past/

[Carcillo]

the problem is all of those deals were signed under the old cba and should really have no bearing on this deal

new cba and new cap means that the market changes

You have a point but keep in mind that this deal is signed under a CBA which says that the cap can't ever go below $64.3 million. The only season in which the cap has been higher is the current one so most of those deals talked were signed when cap was much lower than it will be when this deal kicks in. So I don't think the market has really changed the value of a 1st line C's at all.

[NoWayOut]

Still... the Stars highest cap-hit is $4.6M right now. I can't see them shelling out THAT much... they've been pretty damn conservative with contracts in the past/

I don't see them giving him that much, but I do see it as a bad sign for getting a deal done quickly. Benn's side may play a little more hardball now.

[lucifer316]

You have a point but keep in mind that this deal is signed under a CBA which says that the cap can't ever go below $64.3 million. The only season in which the cap has been higher is the current one so most of those deals talked were signed when cap was much lower than it will be when this deal kicks in. So I don't think the market has really changed the value of a 1st line C's at all.

it might not be able to go below that however those deals were signed assuming a rising cap of x% each year that is all in doubt now that these jokers decided to stage another lockout

plus going from 57% to 50% means even if the revenues increase by the prelockout amounts the cap will rise slower than it would have prior to signing the cba

[ericdaoust]

You have a point but keep in mind that this deal is signed under a CBA which says that the cap can't ever go below $64.3 million. The only season in which the cap has been higher is the current one so most of those deals talked were signed when cap was much lower than it will be when this deal kicks in. So I don't think the market has really changed the value of a 1st line C's at all.

The problem is that there are already a ton of extensions signed that begin next year in what would have been season with a cap well above 70 million. The contracts signed always assumed growth which is reasonable considering salaries always increase unless it is a CBA year where you get the extreme sudden change.

[Carcillo]

it might not be able to go below that however those deals were signed assuming a rising cap of x% each year that is all in doubt now that these jokers decided to stage another lockout

plus going from 57% to 50% means even if the revenues increase by the prelockout amounts the cap will rise slower than it would have prior to signing the cba

I'm pretty sure both the NHL and NHLPA are expecting the cap to rise of x% each year after next one. So with that regard I doubt they're expecting the lockout to have much of an effect.

[lucifer316]

I'm pretty sure both the NHL and NHLPA are expecting the cap to rise of x% each year after next one. So with that regard I doubt they're expecting the lockout to have much of an effect.

it remains to be seen if that is the case but the change in player percentage still puts a drag on the growth even if the revenue growth does match pre lockout which still changes the market

[Carcillo]

The problem is that there are already a ton of extensions signed that begin next year in what would have been season with a cap well above 70 million. The contracts signed always assumed growth which is reasonable considering salaries always increase unless it is a CBA year where you get the extreme sudden change.

The GM's who signed those deals with the expectation of a salary cap north of $70 million for 2013-14 were fools. They had to know the cap was going to go down for the short term atleast. Take Boston for example. They knew very well what to expect from new CBA when they gave the extensions to Lucic and Seguin.

[Carcillo]

Here's the breakdown of the deal:

2013-14 $3.5 million (includes $1 million in signing bonus)
2014-15 $5 million (includes $1 million in signing bonus)
2015-16 $6.5 million
2016-17 $6.5 million
2017-18 $6.5 million
2018-19 $6.5 million
2019-20 $5.75 million
2020-21 $5.75 million

Full NTC.

[NoWayOut]

Still... the Stars highest cap-hit is $4.6M right now. I can't see them shelling out THAT much... they've been pretty damn conservative with contracts in the past/

I got to thinking about what you wrote here. Currently the highest caphit is $4.6M, but next year Lehtonen will have a caphit of $5.9M. Consider also that Gaglardi only took ownership a little over a year ago, November 21, 2011, to be exact. At that point they only had Morrow and Eriksson with caphits at or above $4M.

Since then they re-upped Lehtonen to the above $5M+ caphit, whereas his caphit prior to that was $3.5M. They've now paid out $4M+ each for Jagr, Whitney, and Roy. Gaglardi isn't necessarily going to be as conservative as previous ownership.