Building a Team in the Salary Cap Era

[Cargo]

Not sure how much this has been discussed before; possibly ad nauseam. I do wonder though, at the strategy employed by most teams, which is, identify a super star or two or three, some top end guys, pay them big bucks, and then sort out the rest.

 

It seems to be the standard. If you need approximately 20 guys to play, it would be interesting to take a balanced approach. What if someone targetted say 15 guys, who are not superstars, just good consistent players. Get three really solid lines, two sets of really solid defence, and a top flight goalie.

 

I realize it’s not the standard thought these days, so GMs are not likely to be so radical. But right now, it seems that teams are all going to have limited bucks to chase those top guys, and the salaries are going through the roof. Be a lot safer long term to spend 4 or 5 mil per guy, and get a different kind of team; less risk if someone is a bust. Also, those guys are probably going to be a lot happier in the long term, rather than have one or two really happy guys, and a bunch of pissed off also rans.

[ItTakesAnArmy]

Just look at what Gillis and Gilman did, staggered endings so there was a big contract ending every year leaving millions in cap space.