The term is irrelevant to me. 2.3M is a lot in the context. We want to improve the team as much as we can. Sure do that and who cares about the cap if that’s all we want to do. But there’s no way it should be and there’s better players we should be able to get at that cap. Or two players of that calibre for that cap. That cap hit is more important now than in the offseason or anytime else because it massively affects even the smallest of improvements we make going forward this season. It’s wasteful and limiting.
If you believe he’s actually worth that cap sure argue that. But suggesting the cap hit doesn’t matter right now is crazy talk. There’s a reason you’ll see all the retained trades around the deadline. Everyone is trying to squeeze every last improvement in for every last dollar. Not just saying who cares about the cap hit.
My argument is $2.3 mil is not a big deal if we think Frederick is a significant improvement over Mac. And his 35 goals in the previous seasons, vs 3 for Mac, suggest he is.
I won't pretend to know how good a player Frederick is overall, but I'm pretty sure you won't find many guys who scored 35 goals the previous 2 seasons who are available for that cap hit, let alone half that cap hit.
And I know injuries happen, but where else are we looking to improve? The top 9 looks pretty locked in. The D is over stocked. Goalies are locked. The 4th line on the other hand is already severely limited including a guy who we barely play, protect the hell out of his minutes when we do play him, and he still get's crushed in terms of possession.