Is it harder to make trades in the NHL now ?

HamiltonNHL

Parity era hockey is just puck luck + draft luck
Jan 4, 2012
20,108
10,623
Seems like it is harder than ever to trade players in the NHL.

Maybe it is because alot of teams are "Cap Maxxed", or close to it ?

I bring this up because I read stuff like this on the Leafs board all the time:
Solution: Trade Lupul @ $5.25 mil for futures, replaced by Wee Willie Nylander @$1. mil frees about $4 mil.

Trade Reimer at $2.3 mil and replace with backup at ~$1.0 mil
Trade Lupul ? Who wants Lupul at 5.25 per ? I can't see alot of teams with that cap space wanting him, IMO.

Anyone know if there is a major trend towards "less trades" in the NHL, especially since the cap ? Especially trading big salary contracts (say over 4.5 mil per) ?

Is there a source for all the trades that went on in the last 5 years ? I can number crunch myself if I see a easy to understand list of trades.

All help appreciated.
 

HamiltonNHL

Parity era hockey is just puck luck + draft luck
Jan 4, 2012
20,108
10,623
Anyone have a source that lists all the trades made last year ?
And maybe the last few years ?
 

The Macho King

Back* to Back** World Champion
Jun 22, 2011
48,609
28,846
Common sense would say yes - most teams spend close to the cap in the offseason, so don't have a lot of wiggle room. Teams at the bottom don't have a ton of incentive to take on bad contracts.
 

bsjezz

Registered User
Nov 28, 2011
895
0
many of the players actually worthy of high contracts / yielding real returns also have been given no trade or no movement clauses
 

Brooklanders*

Registered User
Feb 26, 2012
6,818
2
Seems like it is harder than ever to trade players in the NHL.

Maybe it is because alot of teams are "Cap Maxxed", or close to it ?

I bring this up because I read stuff like this on the Leafs board all the time:

Trade Lupul ? Who wants Lupul at 5.25 per ? I can't see alot of teams with that cap space wanting him, IMO.

Anyone know if there is a major trend towards "less trades" in the NHL, especially since the cap ? Especially trading big salary contracts (say over 4.5 mil per) ?

Is there a source for all the trades that went on in the last 5 years ? I can number crunch myself if I see a easy to understand list of trades.

All help appreciated.

Its much harder. Salary cap is one thing. Another is the talent pool. With so many teams in today's game owners are keeping players with talent rather than let them walk as FA. They are signing these guys to contracts worth big bucks.
 

Swervin81

Leaf fan | YYZ -> SEA
Nov 10, 2011
36,452
1,526
Seattle, WA
Common sense would say yes - most teams spend close to the cap in the offseason, so don't have a lot of wiggle room. Teams at the bottom don't have a ton of incentive to take on bad contracts.

Not to mention that contracts seeming to inflate faster than the cap nowadays (with the lower $CDN) just amplifies that problem. Only reason a floor team takes on a bad contract is if they need to reach the floor without grossly overpaying a bunch of scrubs in FA (i.e. Florida trading for Campbell, a quality but overpaid player).
 

HamiltonNHL

Parity era hockey is just puck luck + draft luck
Jan 4, 2012
20,108
10,623
My prediction is that this year .... trades will reach an all time low.

Anyone know a good source listing all the trades (with the player's salaries) ?

By "Trades" I mean ... not the number of trades, but the Sum of the Cap Hits that are traded. There could be a typical number of 3rd and 4th liners (500K to 1.2mill AAV) traded, but BIG contract trading will reach an all time low.

Better get better at Drafting Toronto !
 

BB1133

Registered User
Apr 4, 2010
1,269
0
I think what's happening is GMs are finally realizing how important it is to draft well and develop your own players. The days of quick-fixing your team via free agency and trades are going the way of the Dodo.

Follow the NFL model - draft well, lock up core pieces long-term before they hit their potential, and don't hand out bad contracts that screw your cap situation.
 

Karlsson2Turris*

Guest
You'll see about 2-3 big deals every yet. But those are never superstars being moved, usually disgruntled players with NTC's (Nash, Spezza, Kesler, etc...). Occasionally you'll have a megadeal such as the Seguin one.
 

Hawksfan2828

Registered User
Mar 1, 2007
13,437
15
Libertyville, IL
Seems like it is harder than ever to trade players in the NHL.

Maybe it is because alot of teams are "Cap Maxxed", or close to it ?

I bring this up because I read stuff like this on the Leafs board all the time:

Trade Lupul ? Who wants Lupul at 5.25 per ? I can't see alot of teams with that cap space wanting him, IMO.

Anyone know if there is a major trend towards "less trades" in the NHL, especially since the cap ? Especially trading big salary contracts (say over 4.5 mil per) ?

Is there a source for all the trades that went on in the last 5 years ? I can number crunch myself if I see a easy to understand list of trades.

All help appreciated.

Obviously salary and cap hit plays a role, however I also think that teams covet younger players than ever before considering their potential and their cap hits are relatively low.
 

sharks9

Registered User
Jan 16, 2012
16,444
2,604
Canada
Yep, lots of teams are close to the cap and ones that aren't generally have internal caps they need to deal with when making trades
 

kingdok

Registered User
Jun 8, 2004
8,009
16
Yes it's common knowledge. Trades are harder to make when you have to consider cap space.
 

HamiltonNHL

Parity era hockey is just puck luck + draft luck
Jan 4, 2012
20,108
10,623
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013–14_NHL_transactions#Trades

Replace the years in the url for the seasons you want. 2014-15 etc....

Another site :
http://www.nhltradetracker.com

AWESOME.
Big Thanks.

I love the Trades by Team pages !
http://www.nhltradetracker.com/user/trade_list_by_team/Toronto_Maple_Leafs/1

I wish I could mash up CapGeek and NHLTradeTracker.
I'll manually do it for the last few Leafs years.

Trades by GM ! http://www.nhltradetracker.com/user/trade_list_by_GM/Dave_Nonis/76
Interesting.
 

Trottier

Very Random
Feb 27, 2002
29,232
14
San Diego
Visit site
Seems like it is harder than ever to trade players in the NHL.

Maybe it is because alot of teams are "Cap Maxxed", or close to it ?

I bring this up because I read stuff like this on the Leafs board all the time:

Trade Lupul ? Who wants Lupul at 5.25 per ? I can't see alot of teams with that cap space wanting him, IMO.

Anyone know if there is a major trend towards "less trades" in the NHL, especially since the cap ? Especially trading big salary contracts (say over 4.5 mil per) ?

Is there a source for all the trades that went on in the last 5 years ? I can number crunch myself if I see a easy to understand list of trades.

All help appreciated.

You answered your own question. It's much. much harder to make a trade today because more so than ever, EVERY trade is an exchange of contract$ as much if not more than talent. Salaries and the cap have rendered major deals virtually moot. Pre-cap, you had several "rich" teams willing to take on other s teams "deadwood" because they could write off those mistakes (figuratively, if not actually). Think of NYR in the early part of the 2000s, as the best example.

The cap won't allow for those mistakes.

So, for example, whereas NYR could take on Jagr and his massive annual contract from the Caps (for scraps), that deal is not possible circa 2014.

I'm not a fan of the cap, but I'm long past ripping it. However, an unfortunate result is that the NHL is much like the capped NFL and NBA when it comes to significant player transactions. That is, they are limited and typically restricted to a short period in the offseason (free agency).
 

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