NHL Salary Cap could be Determined Tomorrow
A healthy & fiesty Bert would be a big help
TSN has a good article on the NHL Players’ Association meeting with MLB Players’ Association executive director Donald Fehr. Near the end of the article there is mention of a vote the players’ association with have tomorrow that will help to determine the salary cap.
As stipulated in the collective agreement, a five per cent “inflator” automatically gets tacked on top of the figure that the league and union accountants calculate from hockey-related revenues of over US$2.1 billion - unless the NHLPA and NHL agree to do otherwise. Last summer both sides agreed to zero per cent inflation instead of five per cent, the union worried about having to pay back owners in escrow payments if they earned more than their allotted share.
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Without the five per cent inflator, the salary cap would stand at a little more than US$48 million next season. If the player reps vote to keep the five per cent inflator, then the cap likely stands at more than US$50 million.
Well a 5% inflator to a cap of $48 million comes out to $50.4 million. Jim Matheson of the Edmonton Journal throws out that exact figure in this article. Detroit’s front office has been operating under the assumption there will be a $48 million cap. So if the players vote to keep the 5% inflator then the Wings will have almost $2.5 million more than they have today to put towards player salaries.
Red Wings Central lists Detroit’s current salary outlay at just under $34 million - if you include Igor Grigorenko’s two-way contract and Kyle Quincey as sticking in Detroit. Here are the players who are currently under contract:
Forwards
Zetterberg - Datsyuk - Holmstrom
Franzen - Filppula - Samuelsson
Cleary - Draper - Maltby
Kopecky - Grigorenko
Defense
Lidstrom
Kronwall - Lilja
Chelios - Lebda
Quincey
Goaltenders
Osgood
I didn’t add in bonuses as those are not as cut and dried as straight salary. But if you add in $2 million for roster bonuses and for inking Jiri Hudler to a new deal that gets you to $36 million. The organization likes to stay roughly $2 million beneath the cap to facilitate moving players when injuries occur or in case they make a trade and need to take on salary, so set current outlay at $38 million and that gets you right in the ballpark of what Ken Holland said the team has available to spend - $10 million. Again, this is assuming a $48 million cap.
After taking a quick look at what Detroit has on the roster and what their needs are one thing becomes fairly obvious: the players need to vote to allow the automatic 5% inflator to kick in. If that happens the team has $12.5 million to spend on Hasek, one d-man and one forward. Those are the bare necessities.
Ansar Khan reported that Dominik Hasek is likely to sign in the next day or two for $3.5 million. This is where the final cap number becomes crucial. If the cap sits at $48 million then after Dom signs the Red Wings only have $6.5 million in cap space. But if the cap sits at $50.4 million then Detroit will be $9 million below the cap. That difference of $2.5 million is going to play a huge role in what the Wings do after signing Hasek.
Next on Holland’s list will be to find an offensive defenseman who can play in the top 4 and on Detroit’s top power play unit. The obvious choice is Mathieu Schneider, but his salary demands appear to be beyond what Holland is comfortable paying out. Perhaps that changes if the cap sits at the higher number. If not he’ll probably have to go with plan B. We’ll find out soon enough.
The other item on Holland’s shopping list is getting Todd Bertuzzi back for another season. Like Hasek this doesn’t seem like it will be as daunting a task as bringing Schneider back. Bert has said good things about playing for the organization and has made it clear he would like to come back. That becomes much easier to do of course if the cap is set at $50.4 million.
Is Smyth really headed for Detroit?
The one rumor that keeps getting thrown out is that Detroit has a great shot at signing Ryan Smyth. I opined that if that happened it is going to be tough for Detroit to fill a spot for a top 4 defenseman. But George over at Snapshots suggests that Smyth could sign the type of deal that Kimmo Timonen just signed - it would have a higher dollar amount at the beginning of the contract and a lower dollar amount towards the end of the contract. Since all contracts are weighted based on average salary Detroit would be able to stay beneath the cap due to the average dollar amount per year for the contract.
So long as Detroit can still sign a solid top 4 dman who can play on the top power play unit it sounds good to me. I mean how on earth could you complain about having Ryan freaking Smyth on your team? Talk about looking the proverbial gift horse in the mouth. I just don’t want to get my hopes up on something that seems like a longshot. So sign Dom, (re)acquire a top 4 offensive dman, and sign either Bert or Smitty and I’m happy.
UPDATE
Ansar Khan’s latest blog post breaks down the numbers to show that Detroit can afford either Ryan Smyth or Todd Bertuzzi. His cap space seems to differ from what Ken Holland said yesterday morning. He suggests the cap will be closer to $51 million. Another difference he points out is that Detroit might not keep as much unused cap space if they can get the guys they want to fill the open spot on defense and for a top 6 forward.
Bottom line is he thinks they have just under $15 million available before siging Hasek and will have just over $12.25 if they sign him to the contract he mentioned earlier this week. Like I said above, that’s a bit of a departure from what Ken Holland has been saying.
For the final update, Red Wings Central has an article on draft picks Joakim Andersson and Randy Cameron. Matt Wuest has a funny story on how Cameron found out he was drafted.
According to the Moncton Times-Transcript, Cameron didn’t even follow the draft. He was pitching in a softball game when the public-address announcer interrupted to give the news that he had been selected.
“I didn’t even want to finish the game,” Cameron told the paper. “I just wanted to go straight home and get all the details. It was really tough to concentrate on my next pitch after that … but I still struck the guy out.”
I sure hope that wasn’t slow-pitch softball. I mean striking out in a slow pitch softball game is unheard of right? At any rate thanks to Ansar Khan for getting my hopes up that the Red Wings will be able to sign Ryan Smyth. This will be the thought that will preoccupy the majority of my time leading up through July 1.
Dominik Hasek Mathieu Schneider Red Wings Ryan Smyth Todd Betuzzi1 Comment(s)
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[…] $13.5 million sounds more reasonable than some of the figures that were floated in the Detroit media this week. Particularly if Detroit only gives themselves a $1 million cushion beneath the salary cap. If Hasek signs for $2.5 million [the latest number thrown out] and Kyle Quincey makes the team [$510,000] that leaves Detroit with about $10 million to sign an offensive defenseman and a scoring line winger. […]