There shouldn't be a real need to be "smart" about cap vs. Real expenditures. Your cap should essentially be your real expenditures but we know the Coyotes can't really afford that
So you're basically saying that every NHL franchise should be cash-flush enough to essentially let its owners wipe their butts with Benjamins rather than get the maximum impact for the minimum expenditure? In what kind of Bizarro-world of business practices do you believe the NHL exists?
So Vermette is worse than an empty roster spot?
No such thing as an "empty roster spot." His place will be filled by someone, either through promotion from the prospect pool or by trade or UFA signing. The bottom line is that Vermette's value for the Coyotes was at a low point - not just because of his low point total, but because of how his style of play had degraded to the point where he was more of a liability than an asset on the ice. You'd have to have watched him play to understand this, of course, but the love affair HF seems to have with Vermette is with the version of him from several years ago, not the current iteration.
Call me when either of them puts up 38 points.
Well, Domi and Duclair didn't do too badly eclipsing Vermette last season, so I'm pretty optimistic that a young player with better wheels, reflexes, and (apparently) hockey sense could at least match the value in points and exceed it in on-ice utility.
It'd be nice if you could recognize a spade for a spade, but apparently the Coyotes are more competitive with Pronger doing nothing than using that money on actual players.
What players? If the Coyotes threw money at a warm body like the Islanders did at Casey Cizikas, you'd just be on here tearing them down for poor judgment and a terrible contract. If you want me to call a spade a spade, then I will - there is nothing the Coyotes can do that will prompt you to give them any credit at all.
BOH or not, you really think that a STH should be satisfied that the Coyotes are being frugal by clipping coupons instead of investing actual dollars on players? That's nonsense. This is prime example of why this market struggles to maintain a serious fan base.
Speaking as a (now former) STH, I have no issue with them being frugal. Given the caliber of UFA players available to throw money at, I'd rather them save it and use it on guys in our system. Don Maloney might have thought it was wonderful to throw millions at guys like Kyle Chipchura and Brad Richardson to get above the cap floor, but I don't. That's stupid spending. If Pronger and Datsyuk help us to ice young kids who can play but whose max entry level contracts leave us short in actual dollars spent, then
mas alla! I'd rather ice a team with potential than with plugs.
This move wasn't solely based on some master player personnel strategy to introduce young talent.
You don't know that any more than I do. And the only people for whom the optics are bad, at least right now, are for the team's critics and folks who are making assumptions about their finances. Most of the Coyotes fans I know have felt that Vermette was dead weight even when Maloney resigned him, and it seems that while some are sad to see him go from a sentimental point of view, it makes a lot of sense from a hockey standpoint.
My comment was based solely on the Yotes taking on dead money to clear the cap floor. To me that sends a bad message to any fan base, regardless of the market they happen to be in.
Well, the problem with this whole "barely clearing the cap floor" is that with Pronger and Datsyuk's cap hits, the Coyotes now have less space to the cap CEILING than they do to the cap FLOOR.
And if you think it's a bad message to send in THIS market, may I introduce you to Tony La Russa and Dave Stewart of the Arizona Diamondbacks? The guys who dropped a staggeringly huge contract on unproven Cuban prospect Yasmany Tomas (and gave up their rights in the international free agent market to do so), dropped an even larger one on Zack Grienke, traded a can't-miss blue-chip prospect and their best outfielder to Atlanta to get Shelby Miller, who has been a train wreck of almost stupendous proportions, and basically given away their past who-knows-how-many first-round picks? Or maybe I can introduce you to the Suns and their history of player acquisitions and trades over the past few years.
This market is HUNGRY for a team that makes decisions that are smart. Buying out Vermette, based on his play over the past two or three seasons, was smart. If any other team in the league had done it, nobody would be batting an eyelash. But because it's the COYOTES, it's some sort of apocalyptic nightmare scenario or a shell game.
