Ted Hoffman
The other Rick Zombo
- Dec 15, 2002
- 29,201
- 8,604
There was recently a thread on the Flyers board about how the Flyers were deferring payments to Keith Primeau to help with the team's salary cap situation. Understandably, this caught some people off guard - Primeau had retired prior to the start of the 2006-07 season, so why would he still be counting against the Upper Limit, unless they were still paying him? At first, I couldn't find anything about Primeau still being paid ... but then James Mirtle sent me this link:
http://www.nhl.com/features/insider/primeau091406.html
However, the thing that caught my eye was this comment:
Well, this didn't make sense. Steve Konowalchuk retired from the Avalanche prior to the start of the 2006-07 season, but the Avalanche chose to pay him his '06-07 salary and it counted against the cap ... so what was the deal?
So ... I wrote a few e-mails, and got answers.
1. Yes, Primeau did in fact count toward the Upper Limit for 2006-07. Since the team was paying him his contracted salary, he counted against the Upper Limit. [This is similar to the Konowalchuk situation described above.]
2. Primeau counted at his Averaged Salary of $3,166,667. Apparently the Flyers did file to put him on LTIR for '06-07, and have already done so for 2007-08 and it's been approved (subject to the team getting near the Upper Limit); it's just a matter of when the team chooses to exercise that right to officially designate him on LTIR (which will probably be at the point the team is as close to the Upper Limit as they possibly can get, so as to max out how much of his Averaged Salary they can replace).
3. Even if the Flyers restructure the payments to him, Primeau will still count $3,166,667 toward the Upper Limit for 2007-08. The restructuring of payments has no effect on how his Averaged Salary is applied to the Upper Limit.
If kdb would like to chime in with the official reasons, he's more than welcome to. However, the implication of this is that the Flyers probably don't have Briere or Hartnell "officially" signed at the moment (meaning the contract isn't on file with Central Registry) because they clearly wouldn't have the cap space to do it, given how it's calculated in the offseason.
The good news for Flyers fans? Primeau will be on LTIR in 2007-08 when the team officially designates him for it, and will be off the books for cap purposes in 2008-09.
http://www.nhl.com/features/insider/primeau091406.html
However, the thing that caught my eye was this comment:
The Flyers will pay the remainder of Primeau's contract, but it doesn't count against the cap.
Well, this didn't make sense. Steve Konowalchuk retired from the Avalanche prior to the start of the 2006-07 season, but the Avalanche chose to pay him his '06-07 salary and it counted against the cap ... so what was the deal?
So ... I wrote a few e-mails, and got answers.
1. Yes, Primeau did in fact count toward the Upper Limit for 2006-07. Since the team was paying him his contracted salary, he counted against the Upper Limit. [This is similar to the Konowalchuk situation described above.]
2. Primeau counted at his Averaged Salary of $3,166,667. Apparently the Flyers did file to put him on LTIR for '06-07, and have already done so for 2007-08 and it's been approved (subject to the team getting near the Upper Limit); it's just a matter of when the team chooses to exercise that right to officially designate him on LTIR (which will probably be at the point the team is as close to the Upper Limit as they possibly can get, so as to max out how much of his Averaged Salary they can replace).
3. Even if the Flyers restructure the payments to him, Primeau will still count $3,166,667 toward the Upper Limit for 2007-08. The restructuring of payments has no effect on how his Averaged Salary is applied to the Upper Limit.
If kdb would like to chime in with the official reasons, he's more than welcome to. However, the implication of this is that the Flyers probably don't have Briere or Hartnell "officially" signed at the moment (meaning the contract isn't on file with Central Registry) because they clearly wouldn't have the cap space to do it, given how it's calculated in the offseason.
The good news for Flyers fans? Primeau will be on LTIR in 2007-08 when the team officially designates him for it, and will be off the books for cap purposes in 2008-09.