Salary Cap: Our three 2017-2018 RFAs

[Menzinger]

I don't quite get why we need to lock Brown up for 5+ seasons?

He's played well, and I'm happy with him but not every guy needs to have a long term deal.

 

[encore]

Pretty standard deals for Brown and Hyman. I like them both but neither are game changers and I don't think they have the potential to be either. I'm not sure I want them locked up long term because we need to leave room in case better options come along.

Zaitsev I definitely want signed long-term. He's someone I'm comfortable penciling in as a 2nd pairing defender for the foreseeable future.

 

[Finnish your Czech]

I wouldn't be surprised to see Zaitsev on an 8 year deal at around 4.5 mil like Klefbom. I'm sure they'd try to avoid bridging him because he's close to UFA.

Brown and Hyman probably won't get much more than 1.5 mil and 1-2 years. Not very significant.

 

[Canada4Gold]

That's my point here. Is it better that we sign someone like Brown, for round numbers, 4 years at 2.5, with the cap heavier during the first two years so that when things get tighter in 19-20, his cap hit is negligible?

If Tavares is in the plans, and we are offering 9 million/yr, then in 19-20 we realistically have around 50 million taken up by 9 players. Taking up cap space over the next two years, when we have tons of space, seems to be a good use of the cap.

And that's no Gardiner or Kapanen who will be UFA and RFA.

cap doesn't vary, it remains constant throughout a contract. You can vary salary but that has no real affect on us only front loading may make it more valuable to other, budget teams if we plan on trading them towards the end of the contract.

So no we can't use up our excess cap now and lessen it later on when we need it. If we're signing a 2.5 million contract the cap is 2.5 million all the way through.

 

[Jeypic]

Pretty standard deals for Brown and Hyman. I like them both but neither are game changers and I don't think they have the potential to be either. I'm not sure I want them locked up long term because we need to leave room in case better options come along.

Zaitsev I definitely want signed long-term. He's someone I'm comfortable penciling in as a 2nd pairing defender for the foreseeable future.

Agree with this guy.

 

[BoredBrandonPridham]

this looks good , maybe a year more and and around 2m per for Brown

Babs will probably be pushing for a Clarkson type deal for his son , fortunately for the team/us Lou has control of the purse strings.

Why would a coach push to pay a player more than necessary to retain them?

 

[Rielly4]

Thing is with Brown and Hyman you have to consider they might just be playing well and working so damn hard because they just got to the NHL. Once the shinny lights of the NHL stop burning bright on their young skin they may start to slow down in the work ethic department....you never know. I'd be more willing to lock up Brown cheap long term because hes got a lot of skill and speed and will only get better IMO. Hyamn i am fearful may get worse, but he may also get better...Not worth the risk of a long term deal though IMO.

 

[Menzinger]

We still don't quite know what we have yet with Hyman and Brown.

Each ha played well and I'd be just fine with a 2-3 year deal on each but I'm not comfortable locking up unproven talent like this, especially if they end up flatlining as (useful) support players

 

[ponder]

I'd Ben happy to sign Zaitsev long term, and give bridge deals to both Brown and Hyman. I like all 3, and would be happy to sign them all long term, but bridge deals seem more likely to make both sides happy with Hyman and Brown (probably won't want cheap long term deals if they think they have long term top 6 potential).

 

[showtime8]

You don't understand the hate because it's not hate, it's just not love. He's a good penalty killer, best? Who knows. But you don't waste a contract on a player just to penalty kill. Brown, Sosh & Komarov are pretty good on the PK, same with Smith & he's a faceoff man. You know Marner is also a good penalty killer, so is Kapanen, they also add an offensive threat to the PK, but we may not want them blocking shots. You only want to be short handed 2 or 3 times a game. That's 2-3 mins on the ice killing penalties. I just think that Hymans skill level will make him insignificant to this club in a year or two. Babcock likes his work ethic, but I think his lack of skill will trump his effort. That's not hate it's a legit opinion.

If Hyman can continue to play the way that he plays, he will always have a spot on the line-up.

He's getting a ton of ice-time now because he kills penalties & he's on a line with Matthews.

But when this team gets better, he'll remain down the line-up and Matthews will get more ice-time with better linemates.

 

[Drumdizzle]

As we question wether to resign players like Bozak and JVR,as important for future cap considerations are how much we give to supporting cast players. Next year we have 3 RFA's of importance..

Zaitsev
Brown
Hyman

Do we just qualify them all on bridge deals or does Lou give them longer term contracts? All three are playing important roles on the team. What are each player's comparables?

Zaitsev 4-5m x 6-8 yrs
Brown 1.1-1.5m x 2yrs
Hyman 1-1.4m x 2 yrs

Lock up Zaitsev for as long and cheap as possible.

 

[Rayban*]

Matthews is in line for over 2 million in bonuses right now. Is that retroactive or just count against next year.