Mr Positive
Cap Crunch Incoming
- Nov 20, 2013
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The only issue there is that the league could nix it and even hit us with a penalty.I think it would be pretty petty of the Blackhawks to not retire his jersey because he retired early. The GM who signed this deal is gone. He delivered them 3 Cup, 2 Norris trophies and one Conn Smythe.
A decision to not honor him could be another brick in the road on the way to destroying their brand.
I would hope all parties involved could see the benefit in this scenario:
Keith is traded to a team looking to make cap floor.
Oilers add sweetener - maybe a 3rd round pick.
Said team buys him out. Enjoys a $4.5M cap penalty at a $500k x2 cost.
Oilers sign Keith for one-year at league minimum.
Oilers have more cap room. Keith actually makes more money. Other team gets cap hit + extra.
When Washington did this there was an investigation. You aren't allowed to do this to simply dodge a cap hit. The Oilers and Keith would have to get on board with some narrative that Kieth genuinely wants to retire or weigh new options, and then just changed his mind. The Oilers have to be on board too and say the right things. I'm not sure our management is up to it.
Like I said, I'm not sure giving Holland a ton of cap space right now is a great idea anyway. It probably gets wrapped up in a veteran with term or is just used to avoid trading Kassian