Speculation: which teams are in need of cap space ?

[mouser]

The bolded statement supersedes your counterpoint of maximizing Tuch’s Full cap hit.

Vegas has played stretches with a 20 and 21 man rosters last season. I think the flexibility to quickly free up the cap space needed when Tuch returns outweighs the benefit of a 23 man roster or protecting against a short term injury.

I wonder if there is another way to close the cap and maximize the Tuch cap space- Like starting the season with a player on IR, say Janmark (2m). Vegas then calls up Krebs and now the team is using most of Tuch’S cap hit. The team would have a 24 man roster with 1 player on IR. A week into the season Krebs gets demoted and Janmark comes back from IR and Vegas has the space.

It’s not an either/or situation. Vegas will run a 23 player roster while Tuch is on LTIR with either option. And Vegas will be facing the exact same situation with either option to demote players to activate Tuch off LTIR.

The day 1 LTIR allows the potential to replace short term injuries back to 23. The Training camp LTIR doesn’t. It’s that simple.

Maybe this illustration will help:

(A) Vegas does Training Camp LTIR, starts with a 23 player roster and zero remaining LTIR relief. Two or three players are injured, but not severe enough for LTIR. Vegas has to run with 20-21 players with no remaining LTIR relief available.

(B) Vegas does Day 1 LTIR, and recalls players up to a 23 player roster. Two or three players are injured, but also not severe enough for LTIR. Vegas still has ~$1,75m LTIR relief available to recall 2 more players and run a 22-23 player roster during this time.

All of this goes away once Tuch is activated, but there’s no penalty because the team went with B vs A.

 

[SI]

It’s not an either/or situation. Vegas will run a 23 player roster while Tuch is on LTIR with either option. And Vegas will be facing the exact same situation with either option to demote players to activate Tuch off LTIR.

The day 1 LTIR allows the potential to replace short term injuries back to 23. The Training camp LTIR doesn’t. It’s that simple.

Maybe this illustration will help:

(A) Vegas does Training Camp LTIR, starts with a 23 player roster and zero remaining LTIR relief. Two or three players are injured, but not severe enough for LTIR. Vegas has to run with 20-21 players with no remaining LTIR relief available.

(B) Vegas does Day 1 LTIR, and recalls players up to a 23 player roster. Two or three players are injured, but also not severe enough for LTIR. Vegas still has ~$1,75m LTIR relief available to recall 2 more players and run a 22-23 player roster during this time.

All of this goes away once Tuch is activated, but there’s no penalty because the team went with B vs A.

The plan B - Day 1 LTIR seems like the best way to go and the way to close that delta would be to see a couple of regulars go on IR (short stay) simply for them to bring that ACSL as high as they can.

Here is an illustration -
Currently, 81.537
Patrick signs for 1.25 AAV
Coghlan signs for .75 AAV
Krebs gets promoted .863
Vet F, like, Chiasson signs 1.15 AAV

Day 1 - a Vegas F goes on IR - let’s say out 2 weeks. The VGK ACSL would be 85.55 - using 4.05 of the 4.75 of Tuch’s cap hit.

VGK a player comes back from IR - Krebs gets demoted - 23 man roster.

When Tuch returns - They waive Chiasson, Howden, and Carrier and bury those cap hits and they run a 21 man roster at 81.5

OR

they trade Dadanov or Smith (unlikely with the latter since they’ll be all in)

This works?