the most asked question in nhl circles last weekend was, “what’s going to happen with their cap?â€
the los angeles kings reached a settlement with mike richards, ending the grievance process with a player whose contract was terminated. While bits and pieces have leaked, the exact salary cap repercussions have yet to be shared with the other teams.
But here’s what we do know:
if the kings had bought out richards last summer, he would have stayed on their payroll until the end of the 2024-25 season. The cap hit would move from approximately $1.2m this season to $1.7m next year, followed by $2.7m in 2017-18 and a two-season peak of $4.2m in 2018-19 and 2019-20. Then it would stay just under $1.5m for the final five seasons.
With the agreement, richards’ cash lasts until the end of 2030-31 campaign. As part of a cap-recapture penalty due to decreasing dollar values towards the end of his contract, the kings lose $1.32m from their cap this year — and the next four — with the settlement amount added to that total. Starting in 2020-21, the team’s only penalty is the settlement itself — and that’s not a high number, believed to be somewhere in the $550,000 per season range on average.
The year-to-year totals apparently vary. That’s huge cap relief for the kings, especially when you consider his hit was to be $5.75m this year because they did not buy him out.
privately, other teams are screaming bloody murder and are threatening to make an issue about it at december’s board of governors’ meeting. But the nhl is not sympathetic. In a phone conversation, deputy commissioner bill daly pointed out article 50 of the cba does have a mechanism for settlements.
“in our view, the kings had a ‘bona fide’ opportunity to win this grievance,†daly said. “in that case, they would have no cap hit at all. This way, there’s some penalty.â€
you can dispute the merits of daly’s argument, but when an arbitrator gets involved, all bets are off.
