A $56.7 million salary cap gives Ken Holland some free agent options
Last season Ken Holland fielded a team comprised largely of players drafted by his organization [14 of the 24 players who logged significant ice time], castoffs from other teams [Kris Draper was in fact on the dollar menu back in the day], along with one big free agent signing [Brian Rafalski] and one trade deadline acquisition [Brad Stuart]. As a result the Red Wings were comfortably beneath the salary cap ceiling last year en route to winning the Stanley Cup.
It was reported yesterday that the salary cap will rise to $56.7 million next season, so the Red Wings are playing with house money right now. They are sitting at roughly $40 million and have 11 forwards, 5 defensemen, and one goaltender under contract. So that gives the Wings close to $16.57 million to fill out their roster.
Players currently
under contract
Pete has jotted down the numbers for next season and I agree almost entirely with what he has assembled. I think Valtteri Filppula signs for more money but not a significantly different amount. Here is my take on the guys Detroit will have little trouble signing to a new contract.
Likely signings
So this filling out of the roster gives Detroit 12 forwards, 8 defensemen and 2 goalies. At this point the team has a full complement of players despite being $10.5 million beneath the cap ceiling. However Detroit will sign a few players who will likely alternate between playing in Detroit and playing in Grand Rapids. Let’s add their salary to get an idea of what their cap hit will look like.
Hypothetical
depth signings*
* - the salary amount would only be applied based on the number of days the player is on Detroit’s roster. I’ve added the full salary amount to be conservative.
So my take - and I’m sticking with it - is that the Red Wings have a little over $7 million in cap space to woo free agents. They’ll likely keep their powder dry to the tune of $1.5-$2 million dollars to facilitate trade deadline moves if necessary - the one last season played a big role in the franchise’s 11th championship. With that likely being the case the team probably has about $5 million to pursue free agents.
That obviously blows Marian Hossa out of the pool of candidates. My guess is it also removes the Wings from the Mats Sundin sweepstakes. But Brian Rolston is right in the wheelhouse for that amount of money. He made $2.4 million per season in Minnesota during the course of his last contract so Detroit could either average out a nice raise - say $3.5 million per season - or or give him a nice bump in salary his first year and then reduce the cap hit over the term of the contract.
Add in the fact he can return to his home state and have a pretty good shot at competing for the Stanley Cup and I think there’s a good shot the Wings can get him signed to play in Detroit. That still gives the Red Wings enough cap space to acquire a proven netminder to back up Chris Osgood.
Ken Holland has indicated he has 10 NHL-caliber defensemen if Brad Stuart signs with the Red Wings. Basic math indicates he still has more than enough [9] NHL defensemen even if Stuart opts not to sign with Detroit. The key needs right now are a top 6 forward [Rolston] and a proven #2 netminder [Olaf Kolzig or, more likely, Alex Auld]. Here is how I see the cap hit working out.
Free Agent Additions
That’s a pretty legit roster right there and it puts you comfortably beneath the cap ceiling to make trades at the deadline if necessary. Rolston fits in seamlessly on the second line with Mule and Filppula and replaces Sammy on the point on the second power play unit. He also replaces Drake’s minutes on the PK. Auld provides Detroit with a proven #2 netminder. My guess is he’d be a solid .910 or better save percentage in Detroit, which would help the team with the points at stake during those games when Osgood gets the night off. You also don’t have to deal with the potential issue of Kolzig wanting to be the #1 goaltender.
Here is the lineup:
Forwards
Zetterberg-Datsyuk-Holmstrom
Rolston-Filppula-Franzen
Cleary-Draper-Samuelsson/Kopecky
Maltby/Leino-Helm-Hudler/Downey/McCarty
1st Power Play Unit
Zetterberg-Datsyuk-Holmstrom
Lidstrom-Rafalski
2nd Power Play Unit
Franzen-Filppula/Cleary-Hudler
Kronwall-Rolston
Defensemen
Lidstrom-Rafalski
Kronwall-Ericsson/Lilja
Lebda/Meech-Quincey/Chelios
Netminders
Osgood
Auld/Howard
So my big moves are signing Brian Rolston and Alex Auld. Sexy like signing Marian Hossa or Mats Sundin? Of course not, but both players fill clear needs and the salary cap loot that’s available allows for very reasonable offers to both players.
Red Wings1 Comment(s)
Comments RSS TrackBack Identifier URI
Leave a comment
I think that Brad Stuart is more opt to sign than we think. We may not be getting a lot of news about it but did we get a lot of news on the cleary deal? I also feel that they waited to see how much the cap would rise to see how much wiggle room they did indeed have. What would make the most sense for a Stuart deal is to do a Kronwall-type deal and have his salary raise a bit each year. Start a 3 and go up with Kronwalls. If Stuart signs, I don’t think Holland signs Lilja and chelios may play an even more diminished role if at all. Holland has already stated that he can sign those two at any time he wants to, I think he’s just waiting to see how this Stuart deal pans out, which I think will end up pretty good. THe news sites provide us with negative comments and storys because thats what sells. They are simply guessing just as we all are but in a negative way to get more readers. That’s how I feel any who!