Salary Cap: 2014-15 Roster-building Thread VIII : To Letang or Not Letang, That is the Question

[Riptide]

Past sutter yeah, but he seems to be growing quite a bit since the playoffs last year. Besides didn't you just prove my point? Sutter is without a doubt better than Goc.... Goc is not a 3rd line center on a stanley cup team.

I seem to recall Anaheim wining with a 3rd line of Moen, Pahlsson and Niedermayer. Goc/Spaling surrounded with the right wingers wouldn't be why we'd get bounced.

 

[Will Hunting]

I'm not opposed to keeping Sutter (if he'd sign). It just can't realistically be done when you're already spending money on Dupuis, Spaling and Scuderi. And I don't even think all of those contracts are bad per say (even Scuderi's - in general). It's just that they're expensive on THIS team for what they bring to the table.

If Dupuis had signed for 2.5-3m, I don't think we'd care to much - simply because a solid top 9 replacement is going to cost roughly the same. Scuderi is a tough one to swallow due to our depth and cap issues... however the contract itself isn't bad, and if we didn't have the depth we do, I doubt he'd get the flack he has been nearly as much. Spaling I like... but 2.2m is tough when you see him on the 4th line getting 9 minutes a night - easier when he's getting 16.

In short, 4-5m on Sutter isn't impossible if the rest of the roster is signed to the right contracts for what they bring. However Shero didn't do that, which is going to make keeping him very difficult (even if he was willing to stay).

It depends on the new cap. Even if it goes up by 1M.. (which very likely would happen AFTER 2 YEARS, probably much more than just 1M), then the Sutter´s contract shouldn´t be a problem for this team at all. We are not in the cap hell going forward. The only problem could be Sutter´s willingness to re-sign, just like J.Staal. We will see I guess, but right now I would say that Sutter is pretty happy that he´s here playing a 3C role (and producing nicely) instead of sucking in Carolina in 2C role (which would be the case if that trade didn´t happen).

 

[Jag68Sid87]

If we're going to move Sutter after this year, Spaling will be siding into the 3C spot, not Sundqvist. The highest spot Sundqvist would be playing next year is a 3rd line RW. It's not wise to put a rookie on a shutdown line as the center I feel like.

It's semantics, really. We can trade Sutter and let Goc go, and then start next season with Nick Spaling and Oskar Sundqvist (or Dominik Uher) down the middle behind the superstars. And as the season progresses, they might flip-flop.

I don't think Sutter's here for the long term. I think we are staring at another Staal situation. We can only pay Sutter so much before he becomes a cap-vis-a-vis-roster liability. But if we feel we have to keep him now, then we can entertain the thought of including Goc in a trade. He's more than a fourth liner, and teams would have interest in him. And we have players to replace him right away (Spaling, Sill, Uher et al).

 

[Riptide]

Then we think each other are completely wrong. Wouldn't the first time, won't be the last.

Sutter's looked great. And so has Goc, in much, much, much less favourable circumstances. If Sutter could return a legit scoring winger, the difference between that winger and the likes of Comeau/Spaling/Dupes would be greater than whatever minimal dropoff there is between Sutter and Goc.

Yes and no. I agree that going from Dupuis/Comeau/etc to Perron (or whomever) is likely a bigger impact than going from Sutter to Goc. My concern is that while Sutter to Goc isn't bad, it doesn't quite have the same offensive threat as a line once Sutter isn't there. Which means teams can focus more on the top 6.

For me I think it comes down to whether he'll stay or leave at the end of this deal. If he's even remotely open to staying, you don't move him this year. However if he flat out tells management that he wants a more offensive role, you move him now, and deal with whatever short term pain there may be.

 

[StaalForOne]

It depends on the new cap. Even if it goes up by 1M.. (which very likely would happen AFTER 2 YEARS, probably much more than just 1M), then the Sutter´s contract shouldn´t be a problem for this team at all. We are not in the cap hell going forward. The only problem could be Sutter´s willingness to re-sign, just like J.Staal. We will see I guess, but right now I would say that Sutter is pretty happy that he´s here playing a 3C role (and producing nicely) instead of sucking in Carolina in 2C role (which would be the case if that trade didn´t happen).

We are going to have to pay Despres and Maatta at the same time Sutter's current contract expires, and will be a year removed from (hopefully) re-upping Bennett, and likely filling a hole on D. Bort, Erhoff and Martin are all FA's after this year, and even in the best case financially(all 3 walk and are replaced with ELC's) there will still be raises for Despres and Maatta. I have a hard time believing that Sutter will still be in the mix if he expects much of anything over what he already makes.

 

[Ragamuffin Gunner]

To MIN:

Paul Martin
Chris Kunitz


To PIT:

Matt Dumba
*2015 MIN 2nd (when Martin resigns)

___________________________

To STL:

Brandon Sutter
Simon Despres
Teddy Blueger and 2015 1st OR Beau Bennett



To PIT:

Vladimir Tarasenko

just so bad

 

[penguins2946*]

There's your cap space with Dupuis

 

[Captain Hook]

Safe to say JR will need to bring in two top 6 forwards given today's announcement. He probably needed to anyway but we know some in that organization may have felt Duper was an answer there even though we didn't. Now even the team will see they need two top 6 guys for sure.

 

[Riptide]

It depends on the new cap. Even if it goes up by 1M.. (which very likely would happen AFTER 2 YEARS, probably much more than just 1M), then the Sutter´s contract shouldn´t be a problem for this team at all. We are not in the cap hell going forward. The only problem could be Sutter´s willingness to re-sign, just like J.Staal. We will see I guess, but right now I would say that Sutter is pretty happy that he´s here playing a 3C role (and producing nicely) instead of sucking in Carolina in 2C role (which would be the case if that trade didn´t happen).

Yes and no. Could it be done? Yes. But it wouldn't be easy.

Maatta likely gets something in the realm of what Brodin signed for (4-4.5m). Despres is going to get a decent raise. Bennett (thankfully) likely hasn't proven enough to get much of a raise. While Downie (or whomever) at 2.5m is likely too expensive for the 3rd line (with Sutter and Dupuis), a decent 3rd line option in FA will cost something similar. Now if we use an internal option that free's up ~1.8m for a top 6 option... but our top 6 in general would still be pretty thin.

I think the only way that it happens is if Scuderi or Dupuis isn't counting towards the cap (or one gets bought out).

FORWARDS
Chris Kunitz ($3.850m) / Sidney Crosby ($8.700m) / Patric Hornqvist ($4.250m)
Evgeni Malkin ($9.500m) / Beau Bennett ($1.300m)
Pascal Dupuis ($3.750m) / Brandon Sutter ($4.500m) / Steve Downie ($2.500m)
Zach Sill ($0.550m) / Marcel Goc ($1.200m) / Jayson Megna ($0.900m)
Blake Comeau ($0.700m) /
DEFENSEMEN
Christian Ehrhoff ($5.250m) / Kris Letang ($7.250m)
Olli Maatta ($4.250m) / Simon Despres ($2.250m)
Robert Bortuzzo ($1.300m) / Rob Scuderi ($3.375m)
Scott Harrington ($0.589m) /
GOALTENDERS
Marc-Andre Fleury ($5.750m)
Thomas Greiss ($1.000m)
BONUS OVERAGE
$0
------
CAPGEEK.COM TOTALS (follow @capgeek on Twitter)
(estimations for 2015-16)
SALARY CAP: $73,000,000; CAP PAYROLL: $72,714,167; BONUSES: $307,500
CAP SPACE (21-man roster): $285,833

 

[Jag68Sid87]

I would check in with Nonis in Toronto today if I were Rutherford. Perhaps they'd have interest in moving Kessel. That contract is pretty expensive, but something around Kessel and Letang might make sense for both sides.

Maybe Kessel, Kadri and Jamie Devane for Letang, Kunitz and Adams. Something like that.

Gotta think the leafs are going to do something drastic pretty soon.

 

[Gurglesons]

I seem to recall Anaheim wining with a 3rd line of Moen, Pahlsson and Niedermayer. Goc/Spaling surrounded with the right wingers wouldn't be why we'd get bounced.

Pahlsson should've won the Conn Smythe that year, dominating 3rd line and comparing ours to how that line played is a little presumptuous.

 

[WayneSid9987]

I know going through the Vokoun thing, you get as close to the cap as possible in dollars and then put Dupers on LTIR to open up as much of the 3.75M cap space as you can.

Just as a GM perspective, thats how it's gonna work.

Glad they caught this early. Very scary.

 

[Riptide]

New thread is up.