2014 CBJ Offseason Thread

[DJA]

When I clicked compliance buyout, that's what happened.

R.J. Umberger buyout from CapGeek.com
2014-15: $1,600,000
2015-16: $1,600,000
2016-17: $1,600,000
2017-18: $1,500,000
2018-19: $1,500,000
2019-20: $1,500,000

 

[Samkow]

Somehow I don't think the NHL will let us buyout Umberger for free.

He wouldn't have a cap hit if we do it this summer. Every team got 2 amnesty buyouts that don't have a caphit

Why is everyone is such a rush to get rid of Nikitin?

Because we've got cheaper defensemen who can fill his spot without much of a drop off

 

[GoJackets1]

R.J. Umberger buyout from CapGeek.com
2014-15: $1,600,000
2015-16: $1,600,000
2016-17: $1,600,000
2017-18: $1,500,000
2018-19: $1,500,000
2019-20: $1,500,000

Go to armchair GM. I thought that's what the whole purpose of a compliance buyout was.

 

[NotWendell]

Because we've got cheaper defensemen who can fill his spot without much of a drop off

True, but I don't want to have ANY drop off. The blue line needs to get better.

 

[DJA]

Go to armchair GM. I thought that's what the whole purpose of a compliance buyout was.

HOW DO BUYOUTS WORK?

Teams are entitled to buy out player contracts for a portion of the remaining value of the contract — paid over a period of twice the remaining length of the contract. Following are the buyout amounts:

Younger than age 26 at the time of buyout, 1/3 the remaining value
Age 26 or older at the time of the buyout, 2/3 the remaining value

When a player is bought out, the team still takes a cap hit for the player over a period of twice the remaining length of the contract. The amount of the cap hit (by year) is determined as follows:

Take the actual salary due for each remaining year
Take the Averaged Player Salary (cap hit) for the current contract
Calculate the buyout amount (as described above)
Spread the buy-out amount evenly over twice the remaining years of the contract
Take the number in No. 1 and subtract the number in No. 4. This is the "buyout savings."
Take the cap hit from No. 2 and subtract the buyout savings from No. 5.
This calculation is done for each year, meaning the buyout cap hit is not necessarily the same for all years. It can even be negative, meaning a team can receive a credit.

http://www.capgeek.com/faq/how-do-buyouts-work

 

[SuperGenius]

Porty tweeted:
#CBJ D James Wisniewski fought back tears talking about his playoff performance, how he suffered "tough bounces" on biggest stage.

My comment:
CBJ fans fought back tears to watching Wiz play.

Some fans realize that they're watching human beings play a game, not robots.

Atkinson (6)...Young, 20 goal scorer, fast and cheap. Could be trade bait-gotta give to get.

This is the confounding thing about the logic of the folks who want to ship Cam out. He's young, a 20 goal scorer, fast and cheap. These are exactly the things many are looking for in their wish list. It doesn't make any sense to me to trade Cam to get something else when he has much of what the CBJ desperately need.

 

[GoJackets1]

HOW DO BUYOUTS WORK?



http://www.capgeek.com/faq/how-do-buyouts-work

This is from a CSNPhilly article after the lockout:

Each NHL team has been awarded two compliance buyouts that can be used at the end of this season or following the 2013-14 season. The buyouts are meant to help teams adjust to the falling salary cap; the cap decreases to $64.3 million next season from $70.2 million this year.

Teams can use none, one or both of their buyouts after this season comes to a conclusion. The same goes for next summer. It’s up to each organization to decide whether and how buyouts are employed.

When a player is bought out, his salary will not count against his former team’s cap. He will, however, receive a salary worth either 1/3 or 2/3 of the original contract he signed, depending on his age. A player under the age of 26 at the time of his buyout is eligible to receive 1/3 of his salary, and a player over the age of 26 will receive 2/3 of the remaining value of his salary.

 

[thebus2288*]

Because we've got cheaper defensemen who can fill his spot without much of a drop off

Its funny because that's one of the reasons I think we should keep Nikitin and try to get rid of Wisniewski.

 

[punk_o_holic]

Would they even consider buying out Boll? It would look pretty bad on Jarmo/J.D. buying out a player before his extension that they gave kicks in.

Anyhow, what were everyone's thoughts on Jussi Jokinen? You think Jarmo/J.D. would have interest in him? Are his numbers due to playing on a team like Pittsburgh? Although he did have decent numbers in Dallas and Carolina.

Currently makes $2.1 million(but when I click his name, it says $3 million). Might get a slight raise but I don't think he will get a big raise. He's Finnish, does he have any connections with Jarmo(not sure if he played in the Olympics or any other International Tournaments)? Also, after seeing what Columbus is all about, perhaps he considers us. He's currently 31 years old. Doesn't fit in the youth movement but we still needs some vets.

 

[cslebn]

Would they even consider buying out Boll? It would look pretty bad on Jarmo/J.D. buying out a player before his extension that they gave kicks in.

Anyhow, what were everyone's thoughts on Jussi Jokinen? You think Jarmo/J.D. would have interest in him? Are his numbers due to playing on a team like Pittsburgh? Although he did have decent numbers in Dallas and Carolina.

Currently makes $2.1 million(but when I click his name, it says $3 million). Might get a slight raise but I don't think he will get a big raise. He's Finnish, does he have any connections with Jarmo(not sure if he played in the Olympics or any other International Tournaments)? Also, after seeing what Columbus is all about, perhaps he considers us. He's currently 31 years old. Doesn't fit in the youth movement but we still needs some vets.

I've pitched Jokinen before in here. I think he's a bridge player. He's actually been really consistent minus one horrendous year (ppg over last 6 years). Little bit better than RJU and Cally actually.

 

[NotWendell]

Factoring in that Iginla may be unobtainable if Boston doesn't win the Cup and that the org seems to have a yearning for Callahan, here's a team with more skill up front and a little more size and stiffer defensively on the blue line:

FORWARDS
Boone Jenner ($0.778m) / Ryan Johansen ($4.500m) / Nathan Horton ($5.300m)
Jussi Jokinen ($3.500m) / Artem Anisimov ($3.283m) / Ryan Callahan ($5.000m)
Nick Foligno ($3.083m) / Brandon Dubinsky ($4.200m) / Cam Atkinson ($1.150m)
Matt Calvert ($0.988m) / Derek MacKenzie ($1.000m) / Mark Letestu ($1.250m)
Jack Skille ($1.000m) / Jared Boll ($1.700m)

DEFENSEMEN
Jack Johnson ($4.357m) / Fedor Tyutin ($4.500m)
Mark Fayne ($3.000m) / James Wisniewski ($5.500m)
David Savard ($1.000m) / Ryan Murray ($0.894m)
Dalton Prout ($0.693m)

GOALTENDERS
Sergei Bobrovsky ($5.625m)
Thomas Greiss ($0.750m)

BUYOUTS
R.J. Umberger ($0.000m)
Mike Commodore ($1.142m)
------
CAPGEEK.COM TOTALS
(estimations for 2014-15)
SALARY CAP: $64,300,000; CAP PAYROLL: $64,193,476; BONUSES: $2,715,833

 

[punk_o_holic]

Factoring in that Iginla may be unobtainable if Boston doesn't win the Cup and that the org seems to have a yearning for Callahan, here's a team with more skill up front and a little more size and stiffer defensively on the blue line:

FORWARDS
Boone Jenner ($0.778m) / Ryan Johansen ($4.500m) / Nathan Horton ($5.300m)
Jussi Jokinen ($3.500m) / Artem Anisimov ($3.283m) / Ryan Callahan ($4.500m)
Nick Foligno ($3.083m) / Brandon Dubinsky ($4.200m) / Cam Atkinson ($1.150m)
Matt Calvert ($0.988m) / Derek MacKenzie ($1.000m) / Mark Letestu ($1.250m)
Jack Skille ($1.000m) / Jared Boll ($1.700m)

DEFENSEMEN
Jack Johnson ($4.357m) / Fedor Tyutin ($4.500m)
Mark Fayne ($3.000m) / James Wisniewski ($5.500m)
David Savard ($1.000m) / Ryan Murray ($0.894m)
Dalton Prout ($0.693m)

GOALTENDERS
Sergei Bobrovsky ($5.625m)
Thomas Greiss ($0.750m)

BUYOUTS
R.J. Umberger ($0.000m)
Mike Commodore ($1.142m)
------
CAPGEEK.COM TOTALS
(estimations for 2014-15)
SALARY CAP: $64,300,000; CAP PAYROLL: $63,693,476; BONUSES: $2,715,833
CAP SPACE (23-man roster): $606,524

Dude, this lineup is sick. Do you think Callahan takes a discount to play with Columbus or do you think he doesn't get the money that he wants? I think Buffalo or Edmonton would pay a lot for him. Does he choose less money for an up and coming team or more money for a team that's still rebuilding?

Also, didn't know Prout makes that little. For what he makes, he's perfect for the number 7 spot.

 

[Sore Loser]

Someone will offer Ryan Callahan $30 million dollars on July 1. We will not be able to land him for less than $5.5 per, if that's who we're targeting.

Personally, I'd rather see us go after a more proven scorer. We have plenty of second line/support type players, which is what Callahan honestly is.

 

[NotWendell]

Deleted

 

[NotWendell]

Someone will offer Ryan Callahan $30 million dollars on July 1. We will not be able to land him for less than $5.5 per, if that's who we're targeting.

Personally, I'd rather see us go after a more proven scorer. We have plenty of second line/support type players, which is what Callahan honestly is.

Who do you have in mind? I messed up my years, so we've got $7 million to spare.

 

[ca5150]

Would they even consider buying out Boll? It would look pretty bad on Jarmo/J.D. buying out a player before his extension that they gave kicks in.

Anyhow, what were everyone's thoughts on Jussi Jokinen? You think Jarmo/J.D. would have interest in him? Are his numbers due to playing on a team like Pittsburgh? Although he did have decent numbers in Dallas and Carolina.

Currently makes $2.1 million(but when I click his name, it says $3 million). Might get a slight raise but I don't think he will get a big raise. He's Finnish, does he have any connections with Jarmo(not sure if he played in the Olympics or any other International Tournaments)? Also, after seeing what Columbus is all about, perhaps he considers us. He's currently 31 years old. Doesn't fit in the youth movement but we still needs some vets.

Already tried that with Gaborik, doesn't work.

 

[SuperGenius]

Someone will offer Ryan Callahan $30 million dollars on July 1. We will not be able to land him for less than $5.5 per, if that's who we're targeting.

You're right. There will be at least one GM who thinks it'll work for him. Not another Clarkson, he'll say...

 

[Sore Loser]

Who do you have in mind? I messed up my years, so we've got $7 million to spare.

Paul Stastny, Radim Vrbata, Matt Moulson, Mike Cammalleri, Ales Hemsky, Derek Roy ... heck, we could even toss around the idea of bringing back Marian Gaborik, since so many people around here thought he would be the difference we need

For us, I'd love to see a guy that can score while also fitting into our system. Obvious choice would be Matt Moulson, but I think Radim Vrbata is flying a little under the radar here ... he's learned a two-way style playing with the Coyotes, and he's a better scorer than people give him credit for.

Let's not forget that we'll (hopefully) be getting a healthy Nathan Horton next year, which means that most of our offseason work may be done for us. The lineup as it currently projects:

Jenner-Johansen-Horton
Calvert-Dubinsky-Atkinson
Foligno-Anisimov-Umberger
Boll

Johnson-Savard
Murray-Wisniewski
Tyutin

Bobrovsky

In my humbly honest opinion, our top-9 isn't terrible at all. Johansen is an emerging superstar in this league; Jenner could be capable of 30 goals, as could Horton. I love the second line; think Calvert really started showing his offensive potential in this series, and we all know what Dubinsky is capable of. I'd love to see an upgrade on Atkinson, but he's fine as long as he keeps his role simple. As for the third line, people can say what they want about Umberger, but he's still a 20-25 goal threat ... on our third line. Foligno and Anisimov help round out a pretty good shutdown/support line. I'd be happy if the team brought back Derek MacKenzie to play on the fourth line, with Jared Boll. I think Michael Chaput is pretty close to being an NHL contributor; so maybe he's another option there?

Our defense is fine. The top-5 I listed there should get the job done for us; we'd need a depth/#6 guy (say for argument's sake, one of Nikitin or Schultz) and a #7 guy (Prout, Erixon, or Goloubef ... or two of them?). Add in a capable backup and we're in pretty darn good shape. Jaro Halak, Brian Elliott, or Thomas Greiss would be a great fit, and any of them could be had for a reasonable price.

With the way the team played down the stretch and banded together in the playoffs, ultimately we may be better off keeping the core together and just adding one piece up front. That's my main thought. I'm not one of those people who thinks that we need to blow up some parts because we're close ... I believe we're close because of those parts. So, no trading away guys like Atkinson, Calvert, or Savard in hopes of landing a scoring piece. Either get one via free agency, find one from within the system, or stand pat.

$7 million doesn't go too far in honesty. Say a backup goalie puts us in the $1.5-$2 million/year range, which is pretty fair ... that leaves us around $4 million to spend on help up front, since we know you don't want to be right against the cap to start the year. And, that's with the assumption that Johansen (our first top line center ever) is willing to take $4.5 million per year. I'm betting it's at least another third of that.

 

[Hugg]

Sign me up for not wanting to watch our power play without Wisniewski. I feel like any gains that MIGHT be made defensively would be offset by the drop off in our power play. He was directly involved in 52% of our power play goals this season.

 

[Nordique]

I was listening to the buyout talk after game 3, but game 4 convinced me RJ should get another shot next year. He's not playing up to his contract and it may be a skill gap, but I have a soft spot for guys that want to win that badly, and I think the young guys see that and respect it.

 

[Nordique]

Sign me up for not wanting to watch our power play without Wisniewski. I feel like any gains that MIGHT be made defensively would be offset by the drop off in our power play. He was directly involved in 52% of our power play goals this season.

8th in the league in scoring among Dmen, recorded the most points of any CBJ defenseman in a single season...and by coincidence we broke into the top half of the league in scoring for the first time I can remember.

 

[major major]

Johnson-Savard
Murray-Wisniewski
Tyutin

I like how you structured the top 5. Savard > Tyutin, IMO. This is also a defence I'm comfortable with, the only way I'd change it is if we can sign a guy like Niskanen (or maybe one of the veteran guys: Boyle, Timonen, or Markov) or trade for Giordano, who I think is a clear #1 all around d-man.

$7 million doesn't go too far in honesty. Say a backup goalie puts us in the $1.5-$2 million/year range, which is pretty fair ... that leaves us around $4 million to spend on help up front, since we know you don't want to be right against the cap to start the year. And, that's with the assumption that Johansen (our first top line center ever) is willing to take $4.5 million per year. I'm betting it's at least another third of that.

I could be wrong but Lee's $7m is because he already signed other guys not on your list. We actually have >>$10m left on your roster.

 

[major major]

Sign me up for not wanting to watch our power play without Wisniewski. I feel like any gains that MIGHT be made defensively would be offset by the drop off in our power play. He was directly involved in 52% of our power play goals this season.

Yeah there's a much easier argument to make that we use him as a PP specialist and cut back on his 5 on 5 time. I don't know why Richards hasn't done this already, the Wiz dilemma has been the same for a long time.

 

[db2011]

This is from a CSNPhilly article after the lockout:

Each NHL team has been awarded two compliance buyouts that can be used at the end of this season or following the 2013-14 season. The buyouts are meant to help teams adjust to the falling salary cap; the cap decreases to $64.3 million next season from $70.2 million this year.

Teams can use none, one or both of their buyouts after this season comes to a conclusion. The same goes for next summer. It’s up to each organization to decide whether and how buyouts are employed.

When a player is bought out, his salary will not count against his former team’s cap. He will, however, receive a salary worth either 1/3 or 2/3 of the original contract he signed, depending on his age. A player under the age of 26 at the time of his buyout is eligible to receive 1/3 of his salary, and a player over the age of 26 will receive 2/3 of the remaining value of his salary.

I'm wading into territory that I generally don't, but I thought that's what the compliance buyouts were for, as well. I thought there was a difference between buyouts, which are always available (Commie) and compliance buyouts, for which there is a window that closes after this summer and meant that those buyouts do not count against the cap.

Would they even consider buying out Boll? It would look pretty bad on Jarmo/J.D. buying out a player before his extension that they gave kicks in.

Anyhow, what were everyone's thoughts on Jussi Jokinen? You think Jarmo/J.D. would have interest in him? Are his numbers due to playing on a team like Pittsburgh? Although he did have decent numbers in Dallas and Carolina.

Currently makes $2.1 million(but when I click his name, it says $3 million). Might get a slight raise but I don't think he will get a big raise. He's Finnish, does he have any connections with Jarmo(not sure if he played in the Olympics or any other International Tournaments)? Also, after seeing what Columbus is all about, perhaps he considers us. He's currently 31 years old. Doesn't fit in the youth movement but we still needs some vets.

I thought Jokinen was a waiver pickup; would that have any affect on why the numbers you're coming up with are different? I asked my Pens fan friend last night but he couldn't tell me if Jokinen was a waiver pickup or not. I remember thinking when he was on waivers that the Jackets should have kicked his tires... but I may be completely confusing him with another player

 

[punk_o_holic]

I'm wading into territory that I generally don't, but I thought that's what the compliance buyouts were for, as well. I thought there was a difference between buyouts, which are always available (Commie) and compliance buyouts, for which there is a window that closes after this summer and meant that those buyouts do not count against the cap.



I thought Jokinen was a waiver pickup; would that have any affect on why the numbers you're coming up with are different? I asked my Pens fan friend last night but he couldn't tell me if Jokinen was a waiver pickup or not. I remember thinking when he was on waivers that the Jackets should have kicked his tires... but I may be completely confusing him with another player

He wasn't a waiver pickup but after reading your post, I think I know why. He was traded to the Pens but the Canes picked up part of his salary. So maybe the $2.1 is what the Pens are paying(cap hit) but $3 million is what he makes in total(Canes/Pens).
* I think he was on waivers but cleared earlier on the season before he got traded