Report: NHL salary cap to rise by nearly $5M for 2011-12; floor elevated to $48M
by Donny Rivette on Jun 20, 2011 2:06 AM EDT
in Florida Panthers News & Analysis
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Print...which, if true, means the Florida Panthers will be (as of Monday) $45M under the reported $64M cap, or - more importantly - over $30M below the salary cap floor.
What does this mean? For one, the lockout of 2004-05 was an increasingly pointless gesture; the cap max during the season following the lockout - a.k.a. Year One of the "New NHL's" most recent collective bargaining agreement - was $39M. That's an increase of 25 million U.S. dollars in six years. Read that again and look at your property tax bill next to the most recent appraisal of property you may own. Or against the rise in price of a gallon of milk over the past 12 months.
Secondly, what will the Cats do? This forces the club - in no uncertain terms - to take on insane salary from players meant to simply carry the mail for the next year or so until the organization's younger assets begin to bloom.
Essentially, 32-year old contract-year specialist Sergei Samsonov just became a $4M forward with the Panthers, should they choose to re-sign him and sign him they must. He's "only" worth a mill five - on any other team - after the paper is signed, but Florida has to hit an arbitrary floor, and his talents are far easier to justify than the devil we don't know.
On the blueline, GM Dale Tallon has few options to bulk up on dollars-spent, unless he willingly renegotiates, or injects maybe-legal-probably-not-legal-bonuses on every existing contract, simply because he's feeling generous (has to affect the salary cap, in any case). Keaton Ellerby's got to be beating his head against a wall; one earlier year on the ELC would have translated to riches beyond dreams of avarice in this coming season of absolutely necessary overspending.
Oh, and that affects everyone in the league, driving up salaries across the board, whether similar players have earned the raise or not. Going to be a wild week.
Well done, NHL. Parity achieved for about 24 days.
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by Geoff Detweiler on Jun 20, 2011 11:32 AM EDT up reply actions
I seriously think now Tallon should make a run at Richards. The contract can be front loaded for two or three seasons and then go down to like a 5 or 6 million cap hit.
I actually think Richards will severely harm whichever franchise signs him simply because of his place as the top FA player in the year before the CBA expires—the current system is madness, there’s no way the owners allow this to continue and as such I wouldn’t be surprised to see either another lockout (losing prime years with Richards) and or a significant cap reduction (making Richards contract even dumber than it will inevitably be).
by Craig Fischer on Jun 20, 2011 10:31 AM EDT up reply actions
Mimicing Miami - Could Florida buy success for 1 season?
I was going to make this an article but I’ve been really busy of late so I’ll just give you the jist of it—the Panthers have lucked into what can only be described as the perfect storm; the cba is about to expire, tons of cap space, the cap floor rose drastically, the nfl is locked out and tons of sports fans are looking elsewhere etc—in theory even by overpaying this team has prime opportunity to sign 1 year deals (you’re banking on a cap reduction) to the cream of this FA crop (well at least the good to great players) with the the idea that you’ll acquire as many as you can (replicating the idea of what the Miami heat did this year to a very small term)—it’s taking the old idea in which the Panthers had always used in throwing heaps of money at Free Agents in hopes for a short term reward but because of the unique situation this team is in…it makes long term sense because it isn’t long term.
Why it makes sense
- You raise the rate of UFA’s by 1 year terming them (thus increasing the chance that the CBA will be re-negotiated, further helping this team and it’s shallow pockets long term)
- You maintain the upper hand for a better FA pool going forward with tons of cap space at the ready
- By signing these UFA’s, you give your kids time to develop—there is no need to rush
- You capitalize on the misfortunes of other sports in the market that will not be playing
Why it makes no sense (lol)
- Even if you overpay a lot of these players will likely not stray from multi-year deals
- The crop isn’t the greatest and the older ones, who are more likely to cash in big for shorter term maybe aren’t difference makers anymore: Connolly, Brunette, Laich, Gagne for example on offense.
The goal with this strategy isn’t to necessarily win it all (Dale’s and all of our aspirations) but it’s to make a serious playoff push and breathe some life into this franchise. I understand this idea goes against my very logic, but once again because of the perfect storm I think this is the one idea where being counter-intuitive makes sense.
Reinvigorating the Florida market and amassing a stronger and larger fan base should be a priority for this team (especially as once again other sports leave their fans hungry) in this coming year because of the opportunity.
It’s just crazy enough, it might work. However, I’ll go out on a limb and say there’s no way the NFL stays locked out. It’s easy to do a lockout during the off-season stuff, but when Jerry Jones and Robert Craft miss a payment from a single game, they’ll change their tunes just like the players will.
However, that being said, it’s an interesting take. The other side of this is you figure to have one line of younger guys, the Bergfors/Skilles and Dadonovs. But imagine if we simply added a line of a center like Connolly with a couple of reasonable wingers to Weiss’ line, bring back Samsonov, Reasoner and Dvorak, and fill out the third line with Matthias, Bergfors and Skille. That team could do some damage with solid goaltending. It would buy us one year of the Howdens, Gudbrandsons, McFarlands learning to play in the pros together and ready to move up a level. Plus, let’s say the experiment completely imploded – we could trade the pieces that get the best return and pick up a couple extra draft picks.
Destined to implode. Its more difficult to get as many players that are needed to gel, than it was for the Heat. Short, 1 year contracts is the way to go, and has been in any true rebuild, but not the high end guys.
by MrOmnipotent on Jun 20, 2011 7:04 PM EDT up reply actions
Is there any limit to the number of players a team can sign? What I mean is, do we have to sign players to inflated contracts or could we just jump on the guys who would otherwise head to the KHL to say 1 year deals?
by Chris S Roberts on Jun 20, 2011 1:47 PM EDT reply actions
Just like with most leagues (the WHL for example has a 50 list) the NHL’s reserve list allows for a team to have a maximum of 50 signed players. The Cats are only at 28 with Kennedy signed (44 including all RFA’s)
by Craig Fischer on Jun 20, 2011 4:09 PM EDT up reply actions
Most teams will carry between 40 and 45 contracts, tending to the lower number.
by MrOmnipotent on Jun 20, 2011 7:01 PM EDT up reply actions
I’ve been saying to scour the foreign markets for short term contract players all along in a true rebuild, to give the kids time to season in the minors together.
by MrOmnipotent on Jun 20, 2011 7:02 PM EDT up reply actions
It wouldnt be a bad idea. Reach the cap floor with Higgins type players and give them Hordichuk minutes so the kids can develop.
by Chris S Roberts on Jun 20, 2011 11:15 PM EDT up reply actions
At the same time, those players, usually gritty, heart and soul types, will be auditioning for a more permanent role, or can be traded at the deadline for picks and/or prospects. Its what should have been done last year, knowning the team wasn’t making the playoffs, as well as this season coming up. At the same time, saving some money for post-CBA and making a run at some top line free agents, as summer of 2012 UFA is a LOT more tasty at present. THAT’S how to do it, like the Heat, as that’s what they did with contracts in years past.
by MrOmnipotent on Jun 20, 2011 11:23 PM EDT up reply actions
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