Blackhawks use bye week to generate half million of cap space

[JaegerDice]

Have any other teams used this tactic? I though it was really clever, using a week you're not even playing to send down your rookies and gain the cap benefits.

Might be amended in the CBA in future seasons since the rules and cap implications were written well before the bye week was instituted, but for the moment it's a cheeky way for a cap-strapped team to add 500k.

According to cap geek, the Hawks - who are pressed up against the cap - currently have managed to unlock 6.3 million in deadline cap space. Obviously, any assets acquired would have to be UFA tho.

https://www.capfriendly.com/teams/blackhawks

Click to read more...

 

[Doctor No]

Seems like a good way to get younger players more playing time.

 

[Blender]

Devils sent guys down last week during their bye-week to play games, not to save cap space, although it also saved them money.

I don't see them changing this as sending players down has been a tactic to save cap space since the introduced the salary cap.

 

[JaegerDice]

Seems like a good way to get younger players more playing time.

At this point it's not certain they'll actually be playing a game. I'll check the Chicago beats for updates.

 

[Kale Hulls]

What is the point of a salary cap if everybody is cheating it?

 

[GoJetsGo55]

Sounds like a good way to alienate your youth.

They're taking money out of their pockets.

 

[MuckOG]

Chuck Fletcher of the Wild has been using this tactic all season long in order to work the cap.

 

[Chaos2k7]

Maybe I am bad at math but 17k times 7 is not 500k.

 

[Moskau]

What is the point of a salary cap if everybody is cheating it?

Because teams saving half a million dollars during a bye week means we should just get rid of the cap and let the Rangers, Leafs and Red Wings spend $140 Million on player contracts instead.

 

[JaegerDice]

Maybe I am bad at math but 17k times 7 is not 500k.

17k per day, for each player.

 

[JaegerDice]

What is the point of a salary cap if everybody is cheating it?

I think people are philosophically more at ease with teams using smarts to win rather than raw wealth.

*shrugs*

 

[jferguson]

I think this is what Anaheim has been doing all season with Shea Theodore.

 

[Blender]

I think people are philosophically more at ease with teams using smarts to win rather than raw wealth.

*shrugs*

Raw wealth wasn't even the only factor in winning leading up to the salary cap though. The Leafs and Rangers were often the biggest spenders and never won anything.

The issue was that the constant upward pressure in salary was crushing small market teams and it was sustainable for a healthy league. There was a string of teams that had either gone bankrupt or were close to it, and were talking of moving like Edmonton, Ottawa, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, etc. and a bunch of other teams that were not on very healthy financial ground.

I see nothing wrong with what the Hawks did here though, and lots of teams do this every season.

 

[mouser]

Maybe I am bad at math but 17k times 7 is not 500k.

17k per day, for each player.

$17k/day for all players. Then the saved payroll room is pro-rated at the TDL to 4x-5x of space to acquire contracts.

 

[driller1]

17k per day, for each player.

What kind of crazy rookie contracts are these guys getting?

A rookie making ~$600k should be saving ~$3-$4k per day against the cap, not 17k.

A 17k per day player would amount to something like a $3 million per year player.

 

[Little Psycho]

Lombardi does it a lot

 

[Inkling]

Montreal sent down Michael McCarron for bye-week. He's been bouncing up and down anyway.

 

[Guardian17]

Smart way to manage your cap space.

 

[MXD]

Have any other teams used this tactic? I though it was really clever, using a week you're not even playing to send down your rookies and gain the cap benefits.

Might be amended in the CBA in future seasons since the rules and cap implications were written well before the bye week was instituted, but for the moment it's a cheeky way for a cap-strapped team to add 500k.

According to cap geek, the Hawks - who are pressed up against the cap - currently have managed to unlock 6.3 million in deadline cap space. Obviously, any assets acquired would have to be UFA tho.

https://www.capfriendly.com/teams/blackhawks

Well, Montreal just sent down Daniel Carr and Michael McCarron.

EDIT : Actually, Carr was sent down before yesterday's game, probably because he was getting scratched and, if you're to save 5 days of caproom, why not save 6 ?

 

[Finnish your Czech]

What kind of crazy rookie contracts are these guys getting?

A rookie making ~$600k should be saving ~$3-$4k per day against the cap, not 17k.

A 17k per day player would amount to something like a $3 million per year player.

It's 17k in total

17k * 5 or 6 day bye week * ~5 (to pro rate the cap hit)

 

[Alwalys]

What kind of crazy rookie contracts are these guys getting?

A rookie making ~$600k should be saving ~$3-$4k per day against the cap, not 17k.

A 17k per day player would amount to something like a $3 million per year player.

they sent down 4 players

 

[Iceman]

Sounds like a good way to alienate your youth.

They're taking money out of their pockets.

Indeed.

 

[Chaos2k7]

they sent down 4 players

Math it up 68k times 7 is not 500k

 

[King In The North]

Besides these recent reassignments, can someone go into more detail on how the Hawks have managed to have ~$6mill available at the deadline?

 

[MuckOG]

Sounds like a good way to alienate your youth.

They're taking money out of their pockets.

Meh, the "youth" don't need a week off...No reason why they shouldn't be improving their game in the AHL during the break.