Facing a cap crunch

[BloodSport]

League in signature.

It was my first year doing a dynasty cap league and I ended up winning my first season somehow. Now I’m faced with having a cap issue going into the leagues and my second season.

What do you guys usually do when facing a cap issue? Do you just trade high salary guys for youth and take a loss on the stats, but a win on the salary?

Looking at my signature, do you see players I should move?

The league is huge. 32 teams and most teams have the max of 80 players.

[Eskimo Brother]

Yeah that's usually the simplest explanation of what you have to do. Sometimes it helps more to shed your $3M Dman for a $1M replacement than it does to shed a $5M F and have to replace those stats for cheaper.

You ideally still want to keep your top guys, and it's the middle guys that I would look to move first. Roy, Savard, Anderson, Perron, Zucc. Clear out those guys for some youth/picks/replacement depth, and you should be well within the range of fitting under the cap.

I wouldn't be against moving Panarin, Eberle, Trouba, or Kadri either, but Verhaeghe, Batherson, and Saros are probably not getting moved unless you're getting a top-20 player in return.

[stevegamer]

What I try to do is figure out where I'm deep, and figure out who isn't performing well compared to their cost. Then I see where I can get help from within.

I also want to see who is getting raises that may make them too expensive. As EB says, D seem to be easier to grab cheap replacements, although primarily physical forwards can help as well, particularly if they are cheap and not old or FA's.

In your league which counts hits & blocks, I'd expect Trouba is probably good value even with his scoring down. In the cap leagues I've been in, I've targeted him as an acquisition when people want to cut cap, but those are category leagues.

[Pengwin7]

Yeah - wow - in a 32-team league, that's a damn fine bang-for-your-buck roster.
It's not "sexy"... but it's pretty balanced with some really good contracts.

Generally, there's no fantasy category that captures general "good defense" - so a guy like Mikey Anderson... he's a solid real-NHL defender, but I'm not sure he's giving you $4.125m when that kicks in next year.
He might be a straight-drop.
Try to offer him to the Drew Doughty owner. Mikey & Drew sometimes have played together, and $4.125m is nothing compared to Doughty's $11m.

I'd be curious what your cap crunch is like after that.
I think MaxPac could sign a 1yr $1m deal... so hold him - he'll be great value IF he signs again, it'll be low.
As your veterans age, they'll sign lower cap hit contracts, which'll be good value for what they are worth NOW.

A guy like Jordan Eberle, he's 32... but his next contract will be lower, probably - so hold him.
Same with guys like Zuccarello.

It's a really nice team.
For me, Mikey Anderson is a straight-drop...
And Tyler Bertuzzi... that might be the hard one because he's at an age where he might get a big contract (6yr x $6m) - and that could be hard to hold on.
Dangle him - see who is interested at his unknown cap hit number.


A possible trade I'd consider... Tyler Bertuzzi for James van Riemsdyk.
Bert is the better player... but at age 28 - he's looking at a prime contract.
JVR is 33 and coming off a $7m contract.
His owner may or may not realize that he probably won't get more than $4m or $5m on his next contract as a big-bodied mid-30s player.
It's a risk... but he may sign a much lower cap hit contract.
I'm holding him in my own cap league expecting a very nice number on his next deal.

Good luck.