Line Combos: 2021-22 Edition

[Brian39]

Bonuses that don’t fit under this years cap are applied next year. It’s not like this is just free money.

Correct, but only if you can't fit them under this year's cap at the end of the season.

Let's say we give him $1M with another $2M in bonuses. If he hits those $2M bonuses in November and we can't fit them under at that time, it doesn't mean that they roll into next year's cap. If we can fit them under our cap at the end of the year, then they would apply to this season's cap. He could hit the bonuses in November, we could trade Tarasenko in February and then have those bonuses apply to this year's cap.

In other words, such a contract allows us to fit him into an opening night roster and then become cap compliant at any point throughout the year. It isn't just free money, but it buys half a year of time to figure out how to pay for it. And in the worst-case scenario where we don't free up enough space, then it does just become next year's problem.

 

[Celtic Note]

Correct, but only if you can't fit them under this year's cap at the end of the season.

Let's say we give him $1M with another $2M in bonuses. If he hits those $2M bonuses in November and we can't fit them under at that time, it doesn't mean that they roll into next year's cap. If we can fit them under our cap at the end of the year, then they would apply to this season's cap. He could hit the bonuses in November, we could trade Tarasenko in February and then have those bonuses apply to this year's cap.

In other words, such a contract allows us to fit him into an opening night roster and then become cap compliant at any point throughout the year. It isn't just free money, but it buys half a year of time to figure out how to pay for it. And in the worst-case scenario where we don't free up enough space, then it does just become next year's problem.

This is what I was imagining.

But to fit Bozak and Thomas, even with the 35+ contract, something else would need to happen wouldn't it? If Bozak gets $1M and Thomas gets $2M, then we send down Clifford and MacMac, move up Kostin, we have a 23 man roster and are over the cap by +$400,00 and change. We can make it work with a 22 man roster, but that seems a bit too hard to run with for too long.

 

[Brian39]

This is what I was imagining.

But to fit Bozak and Thomas, even with the 35+ contract, something else would need to happen wouldn't it? If Bozak gets $1M and Thomas gets $2M, then we send down Clifford and MacMac, move up Kostin, we have a 23 man roster and are over the cap by +$400,00 and change. We can make it work with a 22 man roster, but that seems a bit too hard to run with for too long.

Yes, there really isn't an avenue to sign Thomas for $2M and carry a 23 man roster (without another move). The Bozak $1M salary is largely irrelevant though because any player being player 23 on a 23 man roster will make roughly the same. We can give Bozak the league minimum base salary, so at that point any player on the roster counts just the same against the cap. The question is not whether we can afford Bozak, it is whether we can run a 23 man roster. If Thomas get's $2M, then we either need to make a move or run a 22 man roster (one potential move is Sunny on LTIR).