Salary Cap: I wonder if the leafs go full cap next year.

[Igy]

I agree with taking on bad contracts </= 3 years remaining on them for picks and prospects in return. If you think we will be competitive within those 3 years, you are kidding yourself. It would be a good opportunity with how low the cap is being projected next season. Take advantage of it while you can.

 

[indigobuffalo]

I think the Leafs will be looking to stay under the cap by as much as possible. With the cap potentially staying at $69M according to some reports, there are a lot of teams that may end up in Cap Hell and need to jettison players to non-cap teams will to take on salaries.

One of the worst things about Toronto's rebuild prior to the Clarkson trade was that they were not in a position to reap these benefits.

Leafs will absolutely not want to spend frivolously in free agency, and will need to be as miserly as possible re-signing their RFAs.

I think this is why there were so many rumours around Bernier. In a perfect world, the Leafs would keep him, but the potential is there that the money could be better spent just being available.

Now granted, moving out Phaneuf and Kessel (if that does happen) likely frees up a bunch of space too, but probably not much as the Leafs need to eat salary in return, so keeping the Clarkson cap space open will be essential for a productive off-season, especially if the CND dollar stays where it is and the Cap doesn't go up much (if at all).

The Leafs may be active in FA targeting players like Winnik/Santorelli that would be good filler options and possibly return some value at the 2015-16 trade deadline, but that's about it. The bigger fish will be the cast-offs from teams that though the cap would jump to $71M+, when it probably won't.

 

[indigobuffalo]

I think that once rosters are set, the Leafs may take flyers on unsigned FAs hoping they'll turn into cash-cows at the deadline, but until all the rosters are locked in, the Leafs should expect to have cap space available.

 

[gabeliscious]

jvr (4.25) bozak (4.2) kessel (8)
lupul (5.25) kadri (?) panik (?)
komorov (2.95) holland (?) xxxxxxxx
xxxxxxx xxxxxx xxxxxxxx
horton (5.3 on ltir)

gardiner (4) phaneuf (7)
reilly (0.9) polak (3)
percy(0.9) robidas (3)


bernier(?)
reimer (2.9)

gleason (1.8)
gunnarson (0.2)

leafs have apx. $25+ million to sign,

kadri $4.5 x 3 years
panik $2 x 2 years
holland $2.5 x 2 years
bernier $4.5 x 4 years
+3rd line winger up to $3 million x 1 years
+ entire 4th line up to $5 million for the whole line
+13/14 forward ($2 million total)
+7th defenseman (~$800,000)

leafs will still be against the cap even if they give smart contracts out to their rfa and give out reasonable contract to ufa.

 

[buttman*]

jvr (4.25) bozak (4.2) kessel (8)
lupul (5.25) kadri (?) panik (?)
komorov (2.95) holland (?) xxxxxxxx
xxxxxxx xxxxxx xxxxxxxx
horton (5.3 on ltir)

gardiner (4) phaneuf (7)
reilly (0.9) polak (3)
percy(0.9) robidas (3)


bernier(?)
reimer (2.9)

gleason (1.8)
gunnarson (0.2)

leafs have apx. $25+ million to sign,

kadri $4.5 x 3 years
panik $2 x 2 years
holland $2.5 x 2 years
bernier $4.5 x 4 years
+3rd line winger up to $3 million x 1 years
+ entire 4th line up to $5 million for the whole line
+13/14 forward ($2 million total)
+7th defenseman (~$800,000)

leafs will still be against the cap even if they give smart contracts out to their rfa and give out reasonable contract to ufa.

For the life of me I cannot understand why any of these players would get raises like that. NONE of them are worth it. Earn it. Play better and then get paid.

This team needs guys like Kadri sitting out because he wants more money than he should get. He hasn't done anything to merit that money. His play has regressed since he signed his last deal.

Bernier hasn't even been an NHL goalie the last 2 months.

Just got rid of Clarkson -- do not need ANY overpaid players.

Kadri -- 3 million -- one year -- providing he isn't a UFA after.
Panik 1 million
Bernier 3 million one year -- providing he isn't a UFA after.
Holland 1 million -- one year

If they balk -- trade them.

 

[Giuseppe Sallo]

Agree with Kadri. I'd take a pay cut. Haha

 

[-DeMo-]

For the life of me I cannot understand why any of these players would get raises like that. NONE of them are worth it. Earn it. Play better and then get paid.

This team needs guys like Kadri sitting out because he wants more money than he should get. He hasn't done anything to merit that money. His play has regressed since he signed his last deal.

Bernier hasn't even been an NHL goalie the last 2 months.

Just got rid of Clarkson -- do not need ANY overpaid players.

Kadri -- 3 million -- one year -- providing he isn't a UFA after.
Panik 1 million
Bernier 3 million one year -- providing he isn't a UFA after.
Holland 1 million -- one year

If they balk -- trade them.

Bernier would be a UFA at the end of a 1 year deal

 

[-DeMo-]

They better, I don't care if they overpay for a bunch of one year deals that they can flip at the deadline, they make too much money to not do everything in their power to make that into an advantage.

overspending on UFA's even on 1 year deals is not a good idea, because if you over pay there value at the deadline would probably go down. this idea that because they make 100+ million a year doesn't mean you should spend to the cap, that's a horrible reason infact, and probably one of the reason's our cap was so badly mis-managed over the last 5 years. I would much rather them have a lot of cap flexibility to improve when the time comes then for them to be up against the cap and lose that flexibility.

 

[selltrade]

No ... expect Percy and Granberg in the lineup which is cheaper then Franson + ... Carrick and Leivo upfront, and if they get rid of one of the big guys they will be replaced by cheap FAs

 

[seanlinden]

For the life of me I cannot understand why any of these players would get raises like that. NONE of them are worth it. Earn it. Play better and then get paid.

This team needs guys like Kadri sitting out because he wants more money than he should get. He hasn't done anything to merit that money. His play has regressed since he signed his last deal.

Bernier hasn't even been an NHL goalie the last 2 months.

Just got rid of Clarkson -- do not need ANY overpaid players.

Kadri -- 3 million -- one year -- providing he isn't a UFA after.
Panik 1 million
Bernier 3 million one year -- providing he isn't a UFA after.
Holland 1 million -- one year

If they balk -- trade them.

Holland is under contract for next year, IIRC.

With Kadri & Bernier, that's just not realistic.

In Bernier's case, his qualifying offer is going to be $3.4m X 1 year. That is the absolute bare minimum that the Leafs can pay him next year, unless they want to take him to arbitration and try to lower it to $3.1m (10%) if an arbitrator thinks he's worth less than that (good luck). He of course would be an impending UFA at that point. Bernier can also take the team to arbitration to try for a better offer than the $3.4m. Yes, Bernier's agents were extremely intelligent when they locked him up to the deal they did.

In Kadri's case, the effect is a little bit less pronounced. His qualifier is $3.1m, and I believe he has 2 RFA years left, but again, little reason to sign for any sort of term if it's less than $4-5m.

 

[Gary Batman]

I miss capgeek. Is there no other site that shows next year's cap situation?

For next year, I hope we can sign some UFA on 1 year deal. Tell them that play well and you earn a huge contract; if not in Toronto, then some other market will surely offer as their game gets highlighted more in Toronto (like Winnik, Santorelli, Raymond).

Flip them at deadline, take a couple of capdump contracts, and ask for better prospects or picks.

Be ready to take on capdump contracts starting this summer. But also make sure that neither is more than 2 years long. Flex that financial muscle.

Once we trade away Phaneuf/Kessel/Lupul, it should free up lots of cap-space. And while rebuilding, I am hoping we won't be too near to the cap. So, let us be good samaritan, help other teams and get picks in return.

 

[SeenSchenn2]

I miss capgeek. Is there no other site that shows next year's cap situation?

Sort of.

nhlnumbers.com has an Ok version.

Also, http://war-on-ice.com/captools.html. No team breakouts, but you can get single player salary/buyout calculator.

 

[indigobuffalo]

For the life of me I cannot understand why any of these players would get raises like that. NONE of them are worth it. Earn it. Play better and then get paid.

This team needs guys like Kadri sitting out because he wants more money than he should get. He hasn't done anything to merit that money. His play has regressed since he signed his last deal.

Bernier hasn't even been an NHL goalie the last 2 months.

Just got rid of Clarkson -- do not need ANY overpaid players.

Kadri -- 3 million -- one year -- providing he isn't a UFA after.
Panik 1 million
Bernier 3 million one year -- providing he isn't a UFA after.
Holland 1 million -- one year

If they balk -- trade them.

Very short-sighted plan there.

So let's assume we take your advice, sign Kadri for a one-year, $3.5M deal (same as current + inflation).

IF he EARNS it, we'll have burned another year of RFA, and basically will have to be looking at re-signing him as a UFA, where he will command much more leverage in contract negotiations leading to a potential $5.5M or $6M deal.

I assume you would balk at that and not sign him, and somehow magically find better UFAs in free agency willing to sign for well-below market value, based solely on your whim.

There is no way your business model makes sense. You have to pay players market value. The only real leverage teams have is with term and RFA years.

Leafs NEED to re-sign Kadri for 5+ years which is the only way his cap hit will be at or below $5M.

$4.5Mx3 is pretty reasonable, but if the rebuild is going to take 3-5 years, then Kadri would be due for another raise when the rebuild was done, meaning he would ultimately be over-priced by then, unless he proved to be an essential component in the new team design.

Either way, waiting until later to sign him to a good cap hit with term is a colossal mistake, as the opportunity will never present itself again.

At $5Mx5years, if he isn't worth that money, he's still tradeable as that would be reasonable for a 2C/3C if the Leafs take a bad contract in return or eat some salary.

The point is having a cost-controlled Kadri when this rebuild is done. If that's not going to be possible, trade him at the draft now while he's still got RFA years and can get the Leafs a solid return.

 

[gabeliscious]

For the life of me I cannot understand why any of these players would get raises like that. NONE of them are worth it. Earn it. Play better and then get paid.

This team needs guys like Kadri sitting out because he wants more money than he should get. He hasn't done anything to merit that money. His play has regressed since he signed his last deal.

Bernier hasn't even been an NHL goalie the last 2 months.

Just got rid of Clarkson -- do not need ANY overpaid players.

Kadri -- 3 million -- one year -- providing he isn't a UFA after.
Panik 1 million
Bernier 3 million one year -- providing he isn't a UFA after.
Holland 1 million -- one year

If they balk -- trade them.

holland is under contract next season at $775,000, god damn you cap geek.

panik is making $735,000 this year. the kid is going to double up on a bridge deal. $1 million doesnt get you very much in the nhl.

if you arent prepared to give bernier a ~4 year deal you might as well trade him. why would he sign a one year deal at what you are offering. i could understand if offer him $5.5 million x one year to let him prove it but then he can walk as a ufa. leafs really need to give him 3 or 4 years. i thought the rumour was $4.5 x 4?

i also dont see how you dont give kadri the same contract as bozak if he would sign it. if not you have to push him for another 2 year bridge deal. either way if he is making ~$3 know it would be around $4 million.

there is a difference between not giving out clarkson type contracts and pissing off your players over a few hundred thousand.

 

[Mystifo]

Doubtful.

We got rid of 5.25M off the cap for next season, which will essentially go to the raises of Nazem Kadri, Richard Panik and Jonthan Bernier. We'll still have some left over as well.

2.9M + 1.6M = 4.5M for Kadri
2.9M + 1.6M = 4.5M for Bernier
0.735M + 2M = 2.735M for Panik

That's 5.2M. We still saved 50K.

Assuming we move some of Phaneuf, Kessel, Lupul and Bozak, that is up to 27M of possible salary out.

We actually assuming we are pushed to the cap get 5.8M not 5.25. But yeah we don't have as much room as we would like.