Yikes, when checking cap friendly, our cap situation is even worse than I expected.
Am I missing something below??
(a) Short 3 forwards and 1 back-up goalie (assuming Jones is among top 6 Ds) — we have 9.2m in Cap space.
(b) Assuming 1 forward and 1 back-up goalie cost 1m a piece, that puts us at 7.2m for a team short of Kakko and 2C.
(c) Are we really giving Kakko a 1 year deal, given that we already have Laf, K’Miller, Chytil and Kravy becoming RFAs next summer?
Where is Kakko coming in at? 2.5m per for 2 years?
That leaves us with 4.7m for a 2nd line C. I will revert to what this means in (e) below.
(d) Can any savings be made? Of course we can attach like a 2nd/3rd round pick to Nemeth and move his salary but he is still replaced on the roster by app. another 1m D, so that saves us just 1.5m. That means 6.2m.
In addition, I assign the cheapest players 1m instead of like 850k, but you need some flexibility under the cap. That evens this out.
(e) Next season, 2023/24, K’Andre Miller and Laf must be resigned. Filip Chytil is also a RFA. How much will they cost us?
K Miller should come in and 5m. Laf is determined by his play.
The cap in 23’ will be 83,500,000m. We already knows this. Let’s start over:
1. In 23’ we will have a roster with 5 forwards, 5 Ds and 1 goalie, i.e short of 8 forwards, 2 Ds and 1 back-up goalie, for 25m of cap space (assuming Kakko gets 2 years.
2. The 4th line, back-up goalie and spare F+D is filled with cheap players.
3. This leaves us with app. 15.4m in 2023 to resign (assuming KKs bridge is 2 years):
Laf,
Chytil,
Kravy, and
K’ Miller
This is assuming of course that the “2c” position is — not — filled yet. Let’s say we bridge K’ Miller to 3 years 5.4m, we are left with 10m to sign:
“2c”,
Laf,
Chytil, and
Kravy
Goodrow and Nemeth are good buy-outs in 2023. If we BO them in 23’ and replace them with 1m players, we get another 3.5m.
(f) How can we be expected to be planning to fill “2c” with an established C paid and with term beyond 22/23??
The space doesn’t exist. Even if we absolutely max our cap space with BOs and fill all other spots with cheap players, resign the kids (Chytil, Kravy and Laf) to pressed bridge deals, assuming none of them performs, we at the most could spare 4.5m to 5m for “2c”. But that is assuming that none of the kids breaks out. Like if Kravy has a good rookie season, it destroys any chance of giving a 2c 4.5m. It’s perhaps 3m.
(g) Seriously, Chytil has arbitration rights in in 23’ (right?), isn’t it more or less a forgone conclusion that he is history? Kids get paid in arbitration. Any kind of production from him and we would never be able to keep him. What does he get in arb if he gets 40 pts in 22/23, 3.25-3.75m? We can’t afford that, even if we max the buy-outs.
(h) Some are thinking, but we could perhaps deal any of the vets?
The only tradable contracts on the roster for 23’ assumed above would be Lindgren’s 3m, Fox and Shesty. Everyone else has full NMCs.
(i) Honestly, if — any — of the kids breaks out (Laf, Kravy, Chytil and co, not KK if he gets a 2y bridge) don’t rule out a buy-out of Jacob Trouba in 23’. That saves us 5.7m in 23’ and “just” cost us 17m over 5 years in cap.
