We had over 16 million in cap hits for one position this year - Smith who played at 4,35. Girardi, Shattenkirk and DeAngelo who did not play at over 12 million. And some blame Covid for our cap troubles
It hurt the Rangers tremendously because it was more than the league overage allowance. Do you know how the cap works? They had to hold more money back because they knew Lafreniere was going to be here all season with max bonuses in his contract. Same for Kakko and Igor. It made it prohibitive to call up Barron.
I think he was saying they accounted for it, they just did a bad job preparing. The way you're writing implies they didn't know bonuses could be an issue. There's nothing that suggests he doesn't know what he's talking about. You attacked him for no reason
The only lasting thing that TW did was steal the spotlight from TJ Oshie Hat Trick tribute to the loss before his time father. Wilson killed a national feel good story that would have brought a human interest spotlight to the Caps and the NHL. Instead his temporary insanity meltdown condemnation of the sport with outsiders pointing out “see, nothings changed”. Same rhyming history from Matt Cooke on Eric Karlsson to Dave Brown on Tomas Sandstom to Wild Paiment on Dennis Polinich.
In 1978/79 the NewYork Rangers went to the Stanley Cup finals losing to the Montreal Canadians. The following year the Rangers traded four players off that roster to the Colorado Rockies for Barry Beck.
I think we all complained about the mistakes. I for one just thought they were outweighed by the positives. And I think the errors in cap and asset management could be written off if the team wasn’t so dang one-dimensional. And even the one-dimensionality could have been fixed in the off-season had it not become so glaring against the Isles and Caps. At least that’s what I imaging Dolan (and Slats?) think.
Many of us were against Panarin... I was one. It made no sense to me (other than to sell tickets which was never an issue). We were a rebuilding team. Kreider I was DEAD set against as well. Trouba not as much because at that moment we needed a steadying presence on D... and had no one in the system yet. (yes he's overpaid)First, I guess I shouldn't have waded into a debate that didn't involve me.
Second, I'm just sharing a general worry I have--that is shared by others, evidently--that the window is going to be half-open or half-shut, depending on your perspective, but never fully open. Some of the young guys that we're going to be relying on need to be ready to take the step next season, while the veteran group is still in their prime. If it takes a couple more years for Kakko, Kravtsov, Lafreniere, Lundkvist, whoever else you want to name, to really hit their stride, that could very realistically coincide with the start of downturn in the play of the veterans. No, I have no actual evidence to suggest Panarin or Zibanejad (if he's here) or Trouba or whoever else will actually decline, other than anecdotal stuff about players around 30, but I'm just stating a generalized concern.
Like, what if we've seen Panarin's best? Or Zibanejad's? What if Strome has that regression that so many thought he would? What if Kreider or Trouba slow down and become anchor contracts? That's all worst case stuff of course but not outside the realm of possibility. It feels like we're straddling a fine line with when that window is totally open as opposed to when it's fully open but simultaneously shutting because some guys start to decline. Now this isn't anything that it's a huge failing of JD and Gorts or anything, just a worry. And of course, as I've argued many times, windows can be reset and are fluid--like you could spin off Strome or Zibanejad or whatever for younger players and eliminate some of that worry about the "misalignment" of the youth development and the veterans' ability.
Your comment was that the window is totally open next year and would be for five years; my point was that it's totally possible that's not the case if the kids continue to progress at a deliberate pace and if the older core were to start to decline. In that case, your five year window could basically become like a one- or two-year window before you have to make big moves. That's all. It's not a huge criticism of JD and Gorton, but just a worry about what I see as a slightly tenuous roster construction.
EDIT: Just to further clarify, I was not opposed to re-signing Kreider or signing Panarin. I supported the former and was initially on the fence about the latter but came around to the idea. So, I'm not saying it was wrong to do either of those. But, some people did say, "Hey, if we're really rebuilding, maybe these aren't moves we should be making." I think that's what the other person was alluding to.
