Confirmed with Link: NYI and Ryan Pulock have a deal: 2 years, $5M AAV

[Gurglesons]

I think Pulock is NYI's best defenseman, but I do not like this contract. Seems like an overpay for the term.

 

[Seph]

as it’s been stated before: Buying out either one of them makes no sense, it would be more of a cap relief to bury them in the minors.

Correct. Eberle is the only option that makes sense for a buyout, IMO. It would free up 3 mil this year and more than 5 mil next. Year 4 is a little rough on the cap hit, but a lot of contracts will be gone by then, and then after that it's an extra cap hit of about 1.7m/year.

That aside, am a fan of Pulock's new contract. Excellent AAV, and with a lot of contracts off the books the summer it ends, we should have plenty of space to sign him to an extension, which we could sign as soon as this July.

 

[PK Cronin]

Why are people like overly psyched about this deal? Pulock was a RFA, not a UFA, so he was always going to be resigned by the Isles.

But...Because we're in a cap crunch we couldn't do the thing that we really wanted to do...which is sign him to a long-term deal.

So celebrate all you want that the AAV is 5m/year. In 2 years when Pulock is about to be a UFA (along with Leddy and Boychuk) he's going to hold all the leverage and get a much higher AAV than if we could've signed him long-term now - If he stays at all.

When you have time, you use it.

It's a great deal now and helps things settle a bit before the next contract. Complaining it's not a long term deal in this financial climate is nuts.

 

[Mr Misunderstood]

I think Pulock is NYI's best defenseman, but I do not like this contract. Seems like an overpay for the term.

I think we would collectively and respectfully disagree on both points.

 

[19 in a row]

Correct. Eberle is the only option that makes sense for a buyout, IMO. It would free up 3 mil this year and more than 5 mil next. Year 4 is a little rough on the cap hit, but a lot of contracts will be gone by then, and then after that it's an extra cap hit of about 1.7m/year.

That aside, am a fan of Pulock's new contract. Excellent AAV, and with a lot of contracts off the books the summer it ends, we should have plenty of space to sign him to an extension, which we could sign as soon as this July.

I was going to post this earlier. I still hope we can move a contract through trade (every bit would help even Hickey or Leo). However as a last resort if we need to buyout, Eberl would give us relief for the next 4 years with 3M, 5M, 3M and 2M savings by year.. the downside is that there would be a total of $15M in cap hit dead money, spread over the next 8 years.

 

[LeapOnOver]

According to Pulock's tweet about trying to keep this team together to win, an Eberle buyout seems unlikely. He's a big enough piece of this. I like reading Tweets like that. Lets me know the boys didn't just treat the playoffs as taking advantage of unusual circumstances. They are hungry to win and believe they can. Keep em' together LL and give them another shot!

 

[SI90]

I think Pulock is NYI's best defenseman, but I do not like this contract. Seems like an overpay for the term.

what?!? Lol stop it. He could have got 6mil and if he was a UFA probably 6.5-7mil AAV. The 2 years sucks but it’s what had to be done.

 

[MetsJetsIsles22]

this is a decent deal for both sides given the cap/life situation. we were/are in cap trouble.
imagine how much pulock will command as an UFA...after he is part of 2 cup winning teams

 

[periferal]

Maybe the player didn't want the long term deal?

When you have time, you use it.

It's a great deal now and helps things settle a bit before the next contract. Complaining it's not a long term deal in this financial climate is nuts.

Well these two posts contradict each other, but that said if we had the cap space and Pulock signed a 6 year deal at around 6M/year that would be the furthest thing from nuts. He's now going to cost more than that in 2 years.

 

[IslesNorway]

According to Pulock's tweet about trying to keep this team together to win, an Eberle buyout seems unlikely. He's a big enough piece of this. I like reading Tweets like that. Lets me know the boys didn't just treat the playoffs as taking advantage of unusual circumstances. They are hungry to win and believe they can. Keep em' together LL and give them another shot!

Team can't be kept together. No enough cap room. It's that simple. Someone's out and if they can't trade Boychuck then a buyout is tve only remaining option

 

[Duanesutter12]

Yup, got that. And now that I am reading everyone else's thoughts I messed up that Ladd was coming off. He isn't but Clutter, Leddy and Hickey are.

I think it is a great deal for both sides given the circumstances.

Ladd will never come off the books! In fact, somewhere in the Dead Sea Scrolls a goat herder still owes Andrew Ladd for shepherding services from around 400BC!

 

[beach]

All it takes is another tweet to put in what PK Cronin put in. However, he doesn't want to post the list or put the numbers out there on what makes sense, if the team would do it did of what you did. He dialed in to the FAN590 the other day to talk on the Isles and literally said nothing. He just seems so removed from being relevant to be the Isles reporter.

It's all in Stape's Athletic article yesterday.

 

[buud]

Islanders sign Pulock to 2-year pact reportedly worth $10M

Tierney comments that Pulock was great, 5 on 5. was he? the entire team went downward when Pelech was out. any way of figuring out Pulocks +/- was, with and without Pelech?

not trying to sabotage Pulock, just curious...

 

[scott99]

I love this deal, wish it was for more than 2 years, but I understand the reasoning behind it. Bridge deal. And should have more cap space in 2022. That being said, worst case scenario, if he sucks and regresses, he can walk in 2022.

 

[MJF]

Well these two posts contradict each other, but that said if we had the cap space and Pulock signed a 6 year deal at around 6M/year that would be the furthest thing from nuts. He's now going to cost more than that in 2 years.

And we're going to have the cap space to deal with it. This simply kicked the can down the road until then. Nobody should have a problem with that.

 

[Beacon Isles]

It's all in Stape's Athletic article yesterday.

Yes... Staple gets paid by the Athletic. His twitter is a teaser, to get people to go to his paid content.

At the end of the day, yes, they have a new buyout window, but for money (Ladd, Boychuk) and other reasons (like needing Eberle at the moment on the roster) there's really no player that is a no-brainer to buy out.

Staple covers all of that in his Athletic content - why Ladd and Boychuk dont save money if bought out, and how Eberle and even Bailey would be a drastic measure buyout. Save $2M and down a top 9 forward isnt ideal.

 

[PK Cronin]

Well these two posts contradict each other, but that said if we had the cap space and Pulock signed a 6 year deal at around 6M/year that would be the furthest thing from nuts. He's now going to cost more than that in 2 years.

Right, but he had arbitration rights and exercised them, and likely would've been awarded more money had it gotten to that point. Then he would've been a UFA or an RFA, costing us more in the future as well. Would signing him long term be nice? Yes. In the current situation this deal is better than fine and not worth complaining about. You want the team to get better and to re-sign their players, you stated he'd cost more than this in the past, and now you're complaining the team got a good short term deal that gives them more wiggle room now?

 

[danteipp]

The Isles simply don't have the cap space, right now, for a long-term deal for Pulock.

It makes sense for both sides to wait and let the financial environment and cap space to open up in two years (expansion draft, cap space opening up with contracts churning off and the cap presumably increasing).

Now, the Isles and Pulock could have gone year-to-year for the next two seasons, but they got this two-year deal in place to avoid the same issue next season.

The Isles have $3.9 million left in cap space. If Barzal is willing to take approximately $7 million for a year or two, they presumably could fit him in under the cap by say sending three vets in the form of of Ladd, Hickey, Komarov, etc. down to the AHL, recouping $1.075 million per contract, for a total of $3.225 million.

That gives the Isles $7.125 million in total cap space. I assume that means the Isles would need to run a short roster for opening night, but if the plan is to ultimately move Ladd to LTIR and clear his salary immediately afterwards, it appears doable from a cap standpoint.

 

[Throttle]

It's all in Stape's Athletic article yesterday.

Ah, so, he's the reporter salesman...

 

[doublechili]

Well these two posts contradict each other, but that said if we had the cap space and Pulock signed a 6 year deal at around 6M/year that would be the furthest thing from nuts. He's now going to cost more than that in 2 years.

Maybe, maybe not. And maybe Pulock wanted $7 million per year long term ($1 million seems like a relatively small discount on a short term deal taking him to UFA). A 6 year $6-7 million deal would be based on the assumption that Pulock would continue to develop as a 1st pairing, 1st PP offensive defenseman. But what if we find out over the next 2 years that Pulock is maxed out in his development and what he is now is what he will always be, and he ends up sliding back to the 2nd PP unit behind Dobson by the 2nd year of his contract? With the depth we have in the organization at RHD, I'm okay with rolling the dice a bit on him, especially since it gives us more flexibility the next couple of years.

 

[CREW99AW]

The Price Is Right!

Actually Pulock came in a little lower than I anticipated. Thought he would be closer to $6M AAV

I was also expecting closer to $6m per, but on a deal that took him into his ufa yrs.

 

[GrandmaSlices51631]

It's a good deal. 5M is great value for Pulock, in an ideal world, you lock him up for 6 years, but this isn't an ideal world, it's 2020 and has been a disastrous year on all accounts.

How I see this is we have a top pairing D for 2 more years guaranteed ,It gives Lou 2 years to move cash off the books as well as for the flat cap to go up. In those 2 years, Dobson will grow significantly.

Also no guarantee that Pulock does walk in UFA as many have suggested. Take a deep breathe.

 

[Seph]

I was going to post this earlier. I still hope we can move a contract through trade (every bit would help even Hickey or Leo). However as a last resort if we need to buyout, Eberl would give us relief for the next 4 years with 3M, 5M, 3M and 2M savings by year.. the downside is that there would be a total of $15M in cap hit dead money, spread over the next 8 years.

Trade would be tricky, since he does still have a NTC until after this season, and if we need that money now it'll be hard to move him since few teams have the cap space and the ones that do he's unlikely to waive for.

According to Pulock's tweet about trying to keep this team together to win, an Eberle buyout seems unlikely. He's a big enough piece of this. I like reading Tweets like that. Lets me know the boys didn't just treat the playoffs as taking advantage of unusual circumstances. They are hungry to win and believe they can. Keep em' together LL and give them another shot!

Don't get me wrong, I'm not necessarily advocating that we would or should buy out Eberle. He's just the only guy where the cap relief vs. his contributions are at all close enough that it's worth thinking about. I do agree that most likely he won't be bought out.

 

[GrandmaSlices51631]

Trade would be tricky, since he does still have a NTC until after this season, and if we need that money now it'll be hard to move him since few teams have the cap space and the ones that do he's unlikely to waive for.


Don't get me wrong, I'm not necessarily advocating that we would or should buy out Eberle. He's just the only guy where the cap relief vs. his contributions are at all close enough that it's worth thinking about. I do agree that most likely he won't be bought out.

He probably won't be, exception being if another RW in the organization breaks out and contributes 45-50 points. Don't know if Ho-Sang or Wahlstrom could do that this year, but it would make an Eberle buyout easier to stomach.

 

[periferal]

Maybe, maybe not. And maybe Pulock wanted $7 million per year long term ($1 million seems like a relatively small discount on a short term deal taking him to UFA). A 6 year $6-7 million deal would be based on the assumption that Pulock would continue to develop as a 1st pairing, 1st PP offensive defenseman. But what if we find out over the next 2 years that Pulock is maxed out in his development and what he is now is what he will always be, and he ends up sliding back to the 2nd PP unit behind Dobson by the 2nd year of his contract? With the depth we have in the organization at RHD, I'm okay with rolling the dice a bit on him, especially since it gives us more flexibility the next couple of years.

People are just assuming that Pulock is resigning in 2 years and instead focusing on his deal being 5M/year and 6 and that the AAV doesn't make a material difference. Now that I agree with.

However the bid picture is that in two years Pulock is going to have multiple teams banging down his door to sign him at 6 million, or more if the cap goes up...And that's if he doesn't improve at all.

I don't have a big problem with this deal as long as Pulock is resigned in 2 years to a long term deal. The fact that was wasn't with this deal puts him at risk of leaving in 2 years. The risk may be large or it may be small, but literally zero of us should be saying "well it's a lock for him to resign in 2022."

Again if we had more cap space then Lou has more room to negotiate and he probably gets that long term deal now. Lou has got to start respecting cap space as an asset like draft picks and have more of a cushion of it. I understand things like the Ladd deal he inherited, but he hasn't helped his options with moves like Komarov and Hickey.