Salary Cap: 2014-15 Cap / 2015 the Summer of the RFA D

[Ambassador Of Fun]

Being able to expect 21M in cap space to open up next season with only one real hole to fill is actually pretty amazing. Granted a third of that should go towards Spezza, but still, that leaves us with a ton of cap space to use our glut of depth on an upgrade.

Also, there seem to be a lot of borderline UFA top-pairing defenders next summer. Martin, Ehrhoff, Methot, Boychuk, Green, Staal, Sekera, Oduya, and Beauchemin. I'd really like to see us try and sign one of them more as a luxury than as a need - it'd go a long way towards being our defense back on top to how it should be, even though it may block out one of our young defenders.

I'm seeing 30M in cap space, and I bet we can assume a 3M+ increase in the cap. We would need to sign Spezza, Dillon, Nemeth, Oleksiak and replacements for Gonchar, Horcoff, Peverley, and Cole. We should be able to sign guys to replace/replace internally Gonchar, Horcoff, Peverley, and Cole for ~10M. Say roughly ~7M for Spezza. ~5M for Dillon, Nemeth, and Oleksiak. I would not be surprised if we tried to acquire a big name youngish defender with ~12M in cap space and glut of prospects/young players we would have. Though we probably want to save a bit of space for what we will have to pay Benn and Seguin in 3 and 4 years respectively.

 

[BigG44]

Also, there seem to be a lot of borderline UFA top-pairing defenders next summer. Martin, Ehrhoff, Methot, Boychuk, Green, Staal, Sekera, Oduya, and Beauchemin. I'd really like to see us try and sign one of them more as a luxury than as a need - it'd go a long way towards being our defense back on top to how it should be, even though it may block out one of our young defenders.

The only reason I'd say they probably avoid the majority of those names is term. They won't have that much flexibility for long when contracts like Nichushkin and Benn come up. Seguin is a few years away, but the term most UFA D get would make it a concern.

Those players would have to fit perfectly in Nill's long term plans for Dallas to pull the trigger. None of these names are significantly better IMO than what he passed on this summer, but that said they are better. One of those guys could for sure fit the bell. How the young guys play in the NHL this year could have a big impact though.

 

[LT]

I'm seeing 30M in cap space, and I bet we can assume a 3M+ increase in the cap. We would need to sign Spezza, Dillon, Nemeth, Oleksiak and replacements for Gonchar, Horcoff, Peverley, and Cole. We should be able to sign guys to replace/replace internally Gonchar, Horcoff, Peverley, and Cole for ~10M. Say roughly ~7M for Spezza. ~5M for Dillon, Nemeth, and Oleksiak. I would not be surprised if we tried to acquire a big name youngish defender with ~12M in cap space and glut of prospects/young players we would have. Though we probably want to save a bit of space for what we will have to pay Benn and Seguin in 3 and 4 years respectively.

Forgot to take out Spezza's 7M and a couple other small contracts, so yea, you're right. 21M to just sign whoever, really. We don't really need to replace Cole, Horcoff, Gonchar, and Peverley - Our top 9 is set once we re-sign Spezza, and our 4th line will have plenty to rotate through. Defense will be fine as well. Cheap ELC replacements for all of them.

Agreed on saving cap though. We're gonna need every bit of it.

The only reason I'd say they probably avoid the majority of those names is term. They won't have that much flexibility for long when contracts like Nichushkin and Benn come up. Seguin is a few years away, but the term most UFA D get would make it a concern.

Those players would have to fit perfectly in Nill's long term plans for Dallas to pull the trigger. None of these names are significantly better IMO than what he passed on this summer, but that said they are better. One of those guys could for sure fit the bell. How the young guys play in the NHL this year could have a big impact though.

I was hoping we could get one of them on a 3 year deal for 4.5-6M per or something like that so that it wouldn't be too much of a hinderance later on. But yea, this really depends on how badly we need one, which will be mostly based off of our prospects this season.

 

[glovesave_35]

I was hoping we could get one of them on a 3 year deal for 4.5-6M per or something like that so that it wouldn't be too much of a hinderance later on. But yea, this really depends on how badly we need one, which will be mostly based off of our prospects this season.

Seems the new thing in UFA isn't to go whole hog and get tied down until you die but instead to go the other direction and sign big money shorter term deals like we saw with Stastny and Vanek. Most of those defensemen will probably be looking for the typical long term deal but maybe one or two are looking to cash in for three years and then take a stab at UFA again in the future.

 

[jhr1986]

I'll take an extra large #43. As predicted Dillon and Eakin are now expendable pieces and were never in Nill's master plan. *spoiler alert* we sign Dillon long term, have an awesome year but won't be able to trade for a great veteran at the TDL for a 2nd or 3rd round pick. Eakin is goner, while Horcoff and Gonchar play out the season in victory green.

Regardless of how this plays out, there was always a budget issue.

I'll take a large #38 in Victory Green. Hit me up via PM to figure out how you can get my jersey to me.

Thanks.

I'm super sure this is going to happen too.

 

[BigG44]

Nemeth's injury virtually eliminates any chance of Dallas having cap space at the deadline that is not LTIR space.

They will carry his cap hit + his replacement, Oleksiak, for the remainder of the season.

I say Oleksiak because he was probably going back when Gonchar was healthy. Now that will be Jokipakka.

Moving a veteran sooner rather than later would be extremely helpful to their cap situation. There is no situation though if they have no desire to add help at some point during the season, but that seems unlikely.

 

[Troy McClure]

Really should have sold Horcoff in the offseason to a poor team desperate to hit the cap floor.

 

[BigG44]

He's still an option, and the best trade chip in a deal to trade even cap hit for cap hit. He has a pretty large gap in pay and cap hit.

I didn't mean to make the situation sound bad or anything, but all Dallas trade proposals at this point need to be equal money (not a big deal) or more money going out (very unlikely). Teams aren't going to sell cap space this soon in the season. They'd be very open to it later on in the season typically when a $5 million cap hit may only cost around $1 million.

It's highly unlikely Dallas would look to make an early trade IMO anyway so it works better for them in the long run to look at a Jan-March trade.

 

[BigG44]

per Bob McKenzie Spezza deal is close. Great to hear. I was honestly a bit concerned because of start.

Bob McKenzie ‏@TSNBobMcKenzie

Insider Trading preview from tonight on @TSN_Sports Centre: Jason Spezza is closing in on multi-year contract extension with DAL.

This makes me less nervous about this season honestly. I thought Dallas would need to win win win to convince him to stay potentially. I"m glad he sees the long term goals of the team and is comfortable. This is Year 2 of Nill's rebuild.

 

[OttMorrow]

Great news on Spezza!

 

[dechire]

per Bob McKenzie Spezza deal is close. Great to hear. I was honestly a bit concerned because of start.



This makes me less nervous about this season honestly. I thought Dallas would need to win win win to convince him to stay potentially. I"m glad he sees the long term goals of the team and is comfortable. This is Year 2 of Nill's rebuild.

I actually said "But why ????" out loud when I saw that Glad to see that Spezza is looking past the current issues and wants to be in Dallas. We have the potential to be great in a couple of years and I'd love to have him here when we are.

 

[Stars99Lobo37]

That's good to hear.

Now win some games.

 

[BigG44]

Yeah .. for me it really does make the games easier to watch if it gets done. My worst nightmare was a crappy team, him not re-signing, and then a repeat of 2014 Trade deadline prices.

The last thing I want is Dallas to miss the playoffs, but it's bearable this season. We knew the D were weak, getting the right one is going to be tough, and I still don't care that they didn't sign any of last year's UFAs. None of them put this team in a different level of competition.

Hopefully soon we'll see Ritchie or Ranford up here for a shot with Spezza. They need another scoring winger right now with Nuke not coming back. Hopefully they make a decision to purge Moen or Eaves soon ... Cole or Horcoff if they want. I don't care. Someone has to go in the next few weeks to open up a roster spot for youth in the Top 6. That would be nice.

 

[Ambassador Of Fun]

my guess is 6x6.75

 

[BigG44]

So ... is multi year a Thornton or Stastny type contract or is multi year a Gaborik type contract? Which do you think?

Nill has said publicly how much he's happy to have no long term contracts, but he comes from Detroit so I don't exactly trust that statement. I think he'd gladly hand them out for HIS people. I'm drawing a conclusion with now real facts other than a hunch FWIW.

I would not be surprised to see a Gaborik type contract here. Tough call though.

 

[TrillMike]

Nice. I'll guess 5 at $6.5

 

[BigG44]

my guess is 6x6.75

I'd genuinely be disappointed. That's at least a million more than I'd be comfortable with that long.

 

[Starsfan24]

Finally some good news.

 

[BigG44]

I'd be OK paying Spezza two contract each at three years for about $6.75 each back to back before going the full 6 years.

Just because of his back, I don't know that you commit to paying him premium money for 6 solid years. You either get the long term contract discount of just go with a couple shorter deals.

 

[OttMorrow]

I'd be OK paying Spezza two contract each at three years for about $6.75 each back to back before going the full 6 years.

Just because of his back, I don't know that you commit to paying him premium money for 6 solid years. You either get the long term contract discount of just go with a couple shorter deals.

Totally agree. Last thing we need is for his back to go out 2 years into his contract and be stuck with his big money for another 4 years.

 

[StarsTx]

I just hope we don't overpay on the backend if we give to much term. However, Nil seems to be cautious giving out large sums of money over long periods of time so I can't see this being anything other than good news. Not to mention, Spezza seems like the ultimate professional and a class act so he may very well be looking to stay at a place he likes for a fair deal, as opposed to trying to scratch out every last penny and year he could get if he tested free agency.
My guess is 4 years 7m or 5 years by 6.5m

 

[BigG44]

Oh damn ... now I remember why I doubt he signs a 3 year contract. I was looking back at some of the numbers I played with.

I remembered incorrectly that he turns 32 before July 1st. I doubt he and his agent settle for a 3 year contract. That would guarantee his next contract is a 35+ contract which teams notoriously pay significantly less for.

He immediately makes his next potential contract that much harder to negotiate. Good on Nill if he can pull that off.

The numbers on Gaborik type term I played around with previously was around $6. I hope they can come under that if it's a 7 year deal like Gaborik. IDK what they'd do if it was 4 or 5 years really. His is structured really well though ... he was 32 when signed ... just like Spezza technically would be. Both have the injury concern ... more so with Gaborik though. Spezza beats him on consistency and production hence the larger consideration for money.

 

[Starsfan24]

NBC Article:

http://prohockeytalk.nbcsports.com/2014/11/18/report-spezza-stars-working-on-multi-year-extension/

 

[beepeearr]

Totally agree. Last thing we need is for his back to go out 2 years into his contract and be stuck with his big money for another 4 years.

Since he's not a 35+ contract if his back went out and had to retire early we wouldn't be on the hook salary cap wise for the remaining years right

 

[Ambassador Of Fun]

I doubt he signs for less than 5 maybe even 6 years given the way he talked preseason about moving his family and winning a championship.