Major Salary Cutting trades

[Bender]

Hello all,

Took over my first salary cap league and looking for some thoughts on trades. The team I took over was JUST under the cap last year and with some major raises hitting the team this year I am looking to offload some large salary's. Wanted to get your thoughts on some trades.

League:

16 team h2h Dynasty

Salary cap based on NHL Salary cap + 5 mil. (74 mil last year)
With my current set of RFA\UFA's I am 5 million under the cap. So once they come in I will be way over.

Stats:
For Skaters: Goals, Assists, +/-, Special Teams Points, Shots on Goal, Hits, and Blocks
For Goalies: Wins, Save %, and Shutouts

Trade A:
Kane (10,500,000)
2015 1st (9th overall)
2016 2nd
Gudlevski ($608,333)

For

Eichel ($925,000 Max ELC)
Toffoli (unknown at this point, 5 mil?)
Dumba ($894,166)


Trade B:
Kessel ($8,000,000)

For

Saad (unknown at this point, 5 mil?)
Namestnikov (unknown at this point, 1 mil?)

And I believe this will help my depth and farm team.

Current Team:

Kesler $5,000,000
K. Hayes $900,000
Richards UFA
Lucic $6,000,000
Ovechkin $9,538,460
Sharp $5,900,000
Kane $10,500,000
Kessel $8,000,000
Stone RFA
Zibanejad RFA
Kuznetsov RFA
Bailey $3,300,000
J. Johnson $4,357,140
S. Jones $925,000
Ceci $894,160
Maatta $894,160
Alzner $2,800,000
Holden $1,650,000
Gibson $752,500
M. Jones RFA
Vasilevskiy $925,000
M. Green UFA
Markov $5,750,000
Weise $1,025,000
Y. Weber RFA

Farm:

Hudson Fasching
Valentin Zykov
Anton Karlsson
Calle Jarnkrok
Samuel Blais
Taylor Cammarata
Chase de Leo
Kevin Roy
Alexis Pepin
Martin Reway
Andrey Pedan
Adam Ollas Mattsson
Jerome Gauthier Leduc
Adam Almquist
Vladislav Kamenev
Kristers Gudlevskis
Zachary Fucale
Jason Missiaen
Zach Nagelvoort

[gainerama]

Out of the two trades, I'd prefer A since you're getting Eichel and Toffoli. Personally, I'd try to keep both Kane and Kessel and look to dump salary elsewhere. Here's a list of guys that I would dump to free up cap via trade or just releasing them:

Bailey 3.3 (will never be more than a 35 pt guy, no peripherals)
Lucic 6.0 (dump his ass and pick up a minimum wage waiver guy who hits)
Sharp 5.9 (he's getting traded out of CHI, will miss his sog but not his injuries)
Markov 5.75 (high price for blks, got lucky with no injuries this season at age36)

[Moses]

You said that this is your first cap league.... you need to focus on looking for 'better' contracts more than 'better' players. Pat Kane, in your league settings, takes up 14% of your cap. You need to get out from under that. Pat Kane hurts your team by being on your roster.

[Bender]

Out of the two trades, I'd prefer A since you're getting Eichel and Toffoli. Personally, I'd try to keep both Kane and Kessel and look to dump salary elsewhere. Here's a list of guys that I would dump to free up cap via trade or just releasing them:

Bailey 3.3 (will never be more than a 35 pt guy, no peripherals)
Lucic 6.0 (dump his ass and pick up a minimum wage waiver guy who hits)
Sharp 5.9 (he's getting traded out of CHI, will miss his sog but not his injuries)
Markov 5.75 (high price for blks, got lucky with no injuries this season at age36)

Agreed. Looking to move or drop them too. Just need to move out a lot of salary with those RFA guys unless i get lucky on their contracts.

- - - Updated - - -

You said that this is your first cap league.... you need to focus on looking for 'better' contracts more than 'better' players. Pat Kane, in your league settings, takes up 14% of your cap. You need to get out from under that. Pat Kane hurts your team by being on your roster.

Understood that is why i am trying to move him in the trade above.

[The Bottlenecker]

Kane's contract is huge, but I would be more interested in moving a number of lesser players (as suggested by Gainerama) which would allow you to keep Kane. Why not something like Markov for a young, but not ready for prime time payday defensemen like Morgan Rielly? That is just an example of what I am thinking, of course.

[tobias]

You need to get rid of Kane. Both him and Toews are FA in my cap league, and I don't see them getting picked up any time soon.

[sammynos]

Are you required to keep all RFA and UFA's after they sign? Can you opt out depending upon what they sign for? If you can...see ya later Mike Green and hello a bunch of extra cash.

Personally, I like you keeping Kessel, Kane, Ovi as they will provide huge benefits in the scoring cats. With that said, Trade A is the better of the two options.

[RangerFan]

I am assuming you can dump any player if you don't like their salary, right? Trade A is not a bad option. Not a fan of Trade B because you are not getting a scorer anywhere near the talent of Kessel back.

As was mentioned above, I would try to move other high-salary guys that are not cutting it. You should be able to move some of these guys for cheaper options:
Lucic $6,000,000
Bailey $3,300,000
Sharp $5,900,000
Markov $5,750,000

I would drop Weise (provides only hits and he is no Martin), Weber, Holden. This should help as well.

[Bender]

Awesome tips thank you guys. I guess I was so focused on the big salaries and how they would tie me up that I wasn't thinking how helpful those guys could still be. Going to look to either move or drop the listed guys (sharp, Lucic, bailey, Markov, weise, weber, holden). Thanks again!

- - - Updated - - -

Are you required to keep all RFA and UFA's after they sign?.

No I am not. For RFA's UFA's I was planning on keeping, Zibanejad, Stone, Kuznetsov, M. Jones. Richards and M. Green, we shall see where they end up and what their salaries are. If they are reasonable sure I will keep them, if not good bye.

[sammynos]

I have a feeling Mike Green will sign big somewhere that is looking for a veteran defenseman and has the room to do it.

[Bender]

Was hoping to get your thoughts on two more trades to cut a decent amount of salary:

Sharp\Green\Provorov

for

Krug\Barbashev\Spooner

Trade cuts about 6 mil.

OR

Kesler\Green\Provorov

for

Barkov\Krug\Spooner

Trade cuts about 5 mil.

[mounD]

Not really a fan of either of the above deals to be honest. Kesler's contract is getting a lot of heat, but I think it's 100% reasonable in cap leagues. He's a stud with your categories. Like top-10 player with Winger eligibility who gets bulk faceoffs. Very, very valuable; I wouldn't recommend selling short. As for the first deal, I think you can get something good for Sharp, even though his contract is a bit rich. He should be super hyped after the deal to Dallas, with people speculating about Seguin/Benn/Sharp -- despite the fact he will probably be a second line player.

Basically undecided on the first deal, but I don't like the second.

[Bender]

I'm with you mounD. Both have been offered to me already and I have been pushing for something better than Barbashev in the first deal, just not making much progress in it. Was trying to get him to swap Barkov in that deal without any luck so far.

Just wanted to make sure my mind was in the right place since I would be cutting a lot of salary with these moves. Sounds like I was by not really liking either.

[Jouko-Pouko]

Was hoping to get your thoughts on two more trades to cut a decent amount of salary:

Sharp\Green\Provorov

for

Krug\Barbashev\Spooner

Trade cuts about 6 mil.

OR

Kesler\Green\Provorov

for

Barkov\Krug\Spooner

Trade cuts about 5 mil.

I don't understand why you'd need to include Provorov in the deals. I actually think he's better than Barbashev, and equal to Barkov.

Don't try pushing two expensive guys to the same manager, trade them separately. You should be able to get someone like Barbashev with Sharp alone. Don't waste a stud 'D' prospect who is very close to the NHL.

[Bender]

Just figured I would keep reporting back and see how poorly or well I am doing haha.

League categories again:

Skaters: G, A, +/-, SOG, STP, HIT BLK

I already completed these trades:

Trade #1

Traded:
Lucic (6mil)\Maatta (894,166)\De Leo

Got:
Klingberg (4.25 mil)\Nielson (2.75 mil)

Was targetting Klingberg's contract with this trade as I see it being a great one very soon. Love Maatta in real life, just don't think he has huge fantasy potential with Letang\Pouliot around.

Trade #2

I gave:
Patrick Kane (10.5 mil)

I got:
Letang (7.250 mil)
Nesterov (742,500)
B. Bennett (800,000)

Was just trying to move P. Kane's salary since I already have some huge contracts who fit the categories better (Ovi). Looked at FHG and Letang was more valuable and 3.25 million cheaper and went for it. Not a single other person in my league wanted anything to do with P. Kane. Figured if Letang is healthy he is amazing in this format. If he is injured I can bury his salary and pick up a very good FA since there are several in my league.