Next season is going to be the year of the cheap contract

[wendelclark17]

from twitter:

CapGeek ‏@capgeek 4m Fourteen #NHL teams have less than $1.8M to spend per open roster spot next season. Average salary is ~$2.45M. http://www.capgeek.com/payrolls/?charts_year=2013 …

If you look at some of those teams they will have to ice a handful of rookie or league minimum contracts to be able to fill out the roster. Yes some amnesty buyouts will help the situation but some teams are gonna struggle.

[SeaDawg]

some teams are in a really bad spot with cap space for sure

there are going to be a lot of rookies making the NHL next year

[rangersfury]

there are going to be a lot of rookies making the NHL next year

And somewhere John Tortorella's head just exploded...

[Bass56]

And somewhere John Tortorella's head just exploded...

Hahaha! Then again, he hates everyone!

[Bass56]

some teams are in a really bad spot with cap space for sure

there are going to be a lot of rookies making the NHL next year

The Caps are really in a bad spot. They will have to let go of some free agents and trade a couple of key players due to the Erat trade.

[Ross The Boss Palmer]

Hmm I imagine there may be a few free agents that will sign a one year "show me" deal and work their butts off to earn a bigger one next summer.

[SeaDawg]

It really is a bit of a crazy situation. I've been looking at the numbers for many of the teams, and I can't honestly figure out how they are going to make it work with the cap space they have remaining. I guess they will put some players on long-term injury, buy out some players, and definitely sign some cheap contracts to make it all work. There will definitely be some "creative accounting" happening this summer.

[Pengwin7]

Nice find wendel!
That is really interesting.

I mean... look at a team like LA.
They've got $49.6m committed to 13 players.
That leaves $14.8m to fill out the 10 players to get them to the typical 23man team.
That's only $1.48m per player!!!

With Bernier & Voynov as valuable RFAs and Scuderi/Regehr as UFAs... what the heck are they gonna do?

It would've seemed crazy to say this a year ago... but Doughty's $7m/year cap hit is now starting to look like a bonafide candidate for a buyout!!!
Wowzers!!!

[Loch]

Nice find wendel!
That is really interesting.

I mean... look at a team like LA.
They've got $49.6m committed to 13 players.
That leaves $14.8m to fill out the 10 players to get them to the typical 23man team.
That's only $1.48m per player!!!

With Bernier & Voynov as valuable RFAs and Scuderi/Regehr as UFAs... what the heck are they gonna do?

It would've seemed crazy to say this a year ago... but Doughty's $7m/year cap hit is now starting to look like a bonafide candidate for a buyout!!!
Wowzers!!!

Sadly, Vancouver makes them look good.

59 mil right now for 9F, 5D and 1G (assuming it is luongo that is gone)... sure you can bank on some LTIR relief thanks to Booth and Kesler, but shiiiit.

[Carcillo]

It would've seemed crazy to say this a year ago... but Doughty's $7m/year cap hit is now starting to look like a bonafide candidate for a buyout!!!
Wowzers!!!

Let's not get crazy here. There is absolutely zero chance Doughty gets bought out.

LA will be fine. Bernier is as good as gone and they'll get some cheap veteran goalie (around $900k) to backup Quick. They can give Voynov and Scuderi (or his replacemnt) a total of $ 7 million. Then Clifford and Muzzin take a total of $2.5 million. Nolan, Lewis, Ellerby and Martinez will only get about an average of $0.8 million per player. That's 22 players and still $1 million to sign that last player.

Regehr is only a rental and will walk (or replaces Scuderi). Penner will be let go. Richardson either takes a paycut or walks and is replaced with a cheaper guy.

So I don't see any problems will LA's cap next year. They can't get wild while handing contract extensions but I think I was rather realistic with those numbers and it's pretty easily manageable cap situation.

Sadly, Vancouver makes them look good.

59 mil right now for 9F, 5D and 1G (assuming it is luongo that is gone)... sure you can bank on some LTIR relief thanks to Booth and Kesler, but shiiiit.

Not sure what you mean by banking some LTIR relief?

[Loch]

Not sure what you mean by banking some LTIR relief?

We know they'll get hurt again next year, so we can spend that money on call ups! Just start some pricy guys in the AHL!

[Carcillo]

We know they'll get hurt again next year, so we can spend that money on call ups! Just start some pricy guys in the AHL!

Gotcha.

Though you can't bury expensive contracts on minors anymore without them still counting against the cap.

[Ross The Boss Palmer]

I don't play in salary leagues, but this should add an interesting dynamic regardless of whether the salary leagues follow the NHL's salary cap ceiling or one of their own. Should be plenty of gems to draft and pick up.

[Loch]

Gotcha.

Though you can't bury expensive contracts on minors anymore without them still counting against the cap.

Yeah, you can't put 'expensive' guys down there, but you start with some bums making league minimum in the NHL and then call up your 1.4mil ELCs as LTIR space allows.

[Carcillo]

Yeah, you can't put 'expensive' guys down there, but you start with some bums making league minimum in the NHL and then call up your 1.4mil ELCs as LTIR space allows.

Yeah. Though I can't see any team counting on LTIR cap space (except Philly and Boston with Pronger and Savard). LTIR cap space only works while the player is injured, so if Kesler is out month, you can only play the replacement player that time and when Kesler gets healthy there's no magically appeared cap room to keep that replacement player up too if there wasn't cap space for him before Kesler's injury.