Magic Man
Registered User
Those were never the two options. Bernier was never going to be the reason for Fowler leaving, and isn't going to be the reason now. At the end of the day, it was always and is still going to get back to where the salary number drives things in Anaheim, not the cap number. Saving $1M from Bernier to a significantly worse #2 (or #1B) wouldn't have made keeping Fowler on $4M or another player in that range palatable.
And while I'm optimistic about Gibson's future, I think that would not have been a wise spot to save money. I haven't seen what work he has put in over the summer, but he had some way to go before being thrust in a #1 role with nothing but a low-end backup to fall back on is a smart move.
The difference in cap hit between Bernier and Enroth is currently 3.4M, add that to the 7.52M the Ducks currently have in cap space and they're sitting at 10.92M in cap space. Which is plenty to sign Rakell and Lindholm, while not moving out any bodies. The extra cap hit from Bernier is directly impacting the Ducks ability to re-sign their RFA's. The Leafs were only able to get Enroth because they were able to move Bernier to the Ducks. If the Ducks don't do that, it would have taken out their top competition for Enroth.
how much salary did toronto retain in the bernier deal ?
0 dollars.
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