@Amazing Kreiderman, you broke down the cap to me on Twitter.
So the cap situation is as follows:
- 4.4m LTI pool
This is the Chytil contract which is on LTIR. With Chytil out for the season, that 4.4m is guaranteed space they can use.
- ~800k for a player that the deadline acquisition will replace.
If you add Henrique, another player comes out of the line-up. Brodzinski or Pitlick. Let's take Pitlick as an example. $787,500 cap hit to add to the 4.4m theoretically
- Max $800,000 projected ACLS
Now, this is where it gets tricky. The projection as of now, is that the Rangers will have $800,000 pro-rated ACSL (Accruable Cap Space Limit). This essentially is the money you save up on a daily basis every day you are under your cap limit.
Let's say you are running an ice-cream stand for 8 weeks, and you get a budget of 20 dollars a day to run it. You spend that money on cones, electricity to run your freezer, purchase whipped cream, spoons, cups etc. This all costs you $19,75 a day. You save 25 cents every day.
Scenario 1 (2021-22):
After 6 weeks, you have saved $7,50 total. And with 10 days to go, that means your new limit (ACSL) is now $10,75 per day until the end of the season. Great! You can use that extra money to purchase some sprinkles (7th D man), or some chocolate dip (Top-6 RW)! Because you can afford it.
This is what we did in 2022. We saved up so much, that we could even afford a slush puppy station (Andrew Copp)!
Scenario 2 (2023-24):
After 6 weeks, and having saved up $7,50 in total, your freezer (Chytil) is on the fritz! Running the freezer costs you 5 dollars a day. Oh boy. Now what? You have that extra money saved up but that's not enough to replace your freezer! But you can put your freezer on LTIR. And your parents promise to pay for the new freezer. However, they do expect you to first spend your savings (ACSL) on the new freezer, and they cover the rest.
Now your ACSL is gone. But your new freezer which replaces your old freezer (Chytil) is covered by your parents. But you no longer have those savings to get those sprinkles and chocolate dip anymore. You can go for a cheaper model (Thomas Novak) so you have extra money from your parents' contributions to also get some rainbow cookies to hand out (Duclair) or you spend all that money on a more expensive freezer (Henrique) to ensure the quality of your ice cream remains the same
Right now, the Rangers are dealing with scenario 2.
Your accrued cap space remains available as long as you stay under your ACSL. The Rangers are under the ACSL with 21 players on the roster. But the moment they call up a 22nd (to be the 13th forward, or the 8th defenseman during Trouba's suspension), that money will first come out of the accrued cap you have built up. It evaporates quickly if you only have marginal savings like the Rangers.
Then there's the situation we were in last year, where we did not have cap space to recall short-term replacements for day-to-day injuries, resulting in us playing shorthanded, only 17 skaters. Drury does not want that situation again. It's highly unlikely he spends all the way up to the cap with just a 21-man roster.
So, to summarize:
- $4.4m guaranteed LTI pool
- $787,500 from sending down Pitlick
That's 5.1m guaranteed.
Then an additional max of $800,000 in ACSL (Which is unlikely) would give us 5.9m to use in total. Knowing Drury will at least keep $800,000 in cap space for emergency recalls (remember, emergency recalls still count against the cap, only Roster Emergency Exemptions don't, but you need to play at least 1 game with 17 skaters before you're eligible for that).
The reason I stick to 4.4m as the number to spend, is because I do not expect us to stay under our ACSL for the next 5 weeks, nor do I think Drury spends up to the cap including LTI after the experiences from last year.
4.4m in useable cap space at the deadline is the most realistic number.