danaimo

That's nearly $50m in salary for 2 players over the next 5 years. How do you explain that to your owner who is not getting any gate revenue ? Most NHL GMs are trying to dump contracts with term because the revenues have dried due to Covid. I would be shocked if they could move Schmidt's contract. The contracts that they might be able to move would be Smith, Martinez, MAF or McNabb. They are screwed!!

I'm not sure it's as rosy as that. I have VGK, ARI, STL, ANH, CGY, WPG and possibly EDM in the west and MTL, WSH, TML, TAM and NYI out East. All of these teams are either over the cap, have significant contracts to sign or roster spots to fill. Whatever the case, I think all of them will have to start dumping salary one way or another. What better time to do it than when the cap is flat, revenues have dried up and the other teams are looking to cut wages?

Precisely. CAL still need to fill D slots. EDM still don't have a goalie and need more help on D. VGK have done the easy part by signing AP. Now they need to ship out $7m cap space to teams that are trying to cut costs. Good luck. All of these teams are going to struggle to be cap compliant. I'll reserved judgement until the rosters are set.

Spend, spend, spend. Some teams can't help themselves. I'm glad GMJB is not getting caught up in the irrational exuberance.

I'm pretty sure Cernak's agent has a fistful of offers from other NHL teams. He just needs to figure out which ones his client likes, then he can circle back to Brisebois to see if he will match the best offer. If he can't, he can cut a trade with the acquiring team, or just tell the acquiring team to sign an offer sheet and be content with the compensation. Everyday that passes, the pressure mounts on TAM. Other teams do not need to be in any hurry. The stupid money is always the first to get spent. Now the patient GMs can sit back and let ARI, STL,WSH, ANH, MTL, WPG, TML, VGK, TML, CGY and NYI sweat it out. Bargain deals are there to be made, but only for the patient GMs.

I guess so. But if VAN were to give up a 2nd they would be better off to sign Pulock to offer sheet up to $4.3 m and not have the headache of Boychuk's cap hit / salary. Perhaps a 2nd round pick would not be enough!!

Wow, you drive a hard bargain. I know NYI need to clear space to sign Barzal but I can't see them throwing in a 2nd round pick.

Maybe Boychuk is Van bound?? Veteran RHD with less than 2 yrs on his contract. Surprised NYI traded Toews. NYI fans rave about him.

I just want to put the record straight here. Myself and several other members of this community applauded the JT Miller trade when it went down. There was a lot of negativity on this board, but many fans recognized it as being a great move by GMJB. I agree with your sentiment. JB needs to stay patience and let the opportunities come to him.

Except they are now over the salary cap with only 22 players on their roster. If you think MTL did so well, you have to account for the consequence of this signing in what moves they are going to have to make to be cap compliant. They no longer have any cap flexibility. Were they able to do it ? maybe, maybe not.

Your right taking on Johnson does greatly diminish the ask for Cernak but I cannot see any way that JB commits $20m for the next 4 years to Johnson. This would turn into an anchor contract for VAN. Teams signing non elite players to 2+ year contracts are going to regret it big time in the years ahead. Term and salary are crucial in todays NHL

Your 9th post has shown more insight and knowledge than thousands posted by other CDC members. You are 100 % correct my friend. If VAN had matched this deal it would have caused huge problems down the road.

I that is exactly right. GMJB is making sure that 2 years out he has all the cap space and flexibility to sign some big contracts. I have no problem with refusing to sign 2nd line wingers to 4 yr deals, much though I like Toffoli. Play the long game and wait for bargain deals when cap strapped teams have to shed cap space and salary.

Not a bad idea. I can see the benefit for both sides. I don't think it would happen because it requires VAN to commit too many dollars for too long term. VAN will need every cent they can save in 2 years when EP and Huggy are due to be signed. They will not want to commit any dollars more than 2 years out. I'm sure Cernak's agent knows how much Benning would be prepared to offer on an offer sheet along with several other GMs. Whoever offers the most will probably get him.

Tampa's RFAs will probably be very motivated to sign an offersheet. Given that TAM has committed huge dollars to it's stars on long term deals there simply is no cap space left. The current economy makes a lot of Tampa's contracts untradeable. If they stay in TAM they may only get $1m pa. An offer sheet for Sergachev or Cernak would be $3m++ . These are uncertain times so the players agent will be telling them to take as much as they can for maximum term. I'm pretty sure the players agents, Brisebois and all of the other GMs know that there is no money to sign them, directly or via a matched offersheet. You are right, players do not have to sign them. But I bet their agents are hoping they do.

Given the current revenue uncertainty that teams find themselves in, I would be shocked if TAM are able to move any of there contracts that have more than 2 years left on them. It has nothing to do with talent or salary cap. It is the reality of running an entertainment business during a pandemic when there is no gate revenue and no idea when arenas will be able to reopen. Owner are cognizant that they might have to play in a bubble for the next few years so they do not want to commit big dollars to contracts with term. Yes, I'm seriously suggesting that Kucherov, Stamkos, Gourd, Johnson, Killorn, Hedman, McDonagh and Vasilevsky are untradeable. Flame away.

I like this proposal in terms of cap space and talent. It is well thought out. However, GMs throughout the league are not going to commit to large salaries with term. The economics of the NHL have changed and although this proposal would have made sense last year, it would not fly today. Teams are getting zero gate revenue yet they are still committed to paying players salaries. It might be years before NHL teams make any money and the only thing GMs can do to reduce costs is not sign deals with term. Tyler Johnson just cleared waivers, he has no trade value. Not because of the player, but no one wants to commit $5m for the next 4 years. This years free agent class is dominated by 1 or 2 year deals, not 5+ year deals. Your proposal would commit VAN to paying $31.25m for Killorn and Johnson PLUS whatever you sign Cernak for. 3 x $3m, $9m total perhaps? That's a cost commitment of over $40m over the next 4 years. The savings VAN make by trading Eriksson is only $8m for the next 2 years. I'm not sure that Jim Benning could sell this to Mr Aqualini. Your arguments are well presented, I just think that the current economic environment cannot support this kind of trade.

Correct. The player has to sign the offer sheet. But even in Tampa, the economic winds are blowing cold. Sergachev must be aware that with a flat cap and UFA contracts a fraction of what they were in previous years, he would be foolish to not sign a big contract if one comes along. Things are not what they used to be.

This may seem counterintuitive but the more I think about Tampa's cap issue, the more appealing an offer sheet is for Tampa as much as the acquiring team. Could this be the first year that GMs are making phone calls asking other teams to make offer sheets for their own players? We've just seen TOR dump Andreas Johnsson for next to nothing. Cap strapped teams might prefer to recoup picks for RFA compensation rather than trade contracted players for very little. Just a thought.

In previous years I would agree, but this year is different. Given the hole that TAM are in, they might actually WANT teams to offer sheet their RFAs. That way they can recoup something without taking on more salary cap. It sounds crazy I know, but the days of Burke and Lowe facing off in a barn to fight are over.

Wow. Caps stole him. Great deal for them.

I think you have correctly assessed the clusterf**k that TAM find themselves in. Offer sheets have not worked in the past because they always get matched. But this year is different. Pandemic economics have caused GMs to rethink how they do business. TAM have no choice but to loose some serious talent. The only questions are 1. Who do they loose them to and 2. What if anything can they recoup.

Not likely to be matched. This would put them over the salary cap by more than $3m with only 19 roster players signed. To get Cirelli, Cernak and 2 more NHLers on the roster would put them $10m++++ over the cap. The math does not lie. By tendering an offer sheet, you force TAM to give up assets or dive further into salary cap hell. I believe that an offer sheet significantly less than 6x 6.5m could not be matched.

I guess the Avs only did this to prevent Calgary from picking up more ex-Canucks

Someone tell Treliving that Derrick Pouliot is still available