Question regarding "cap numbers".

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The Finnish MacInnis*

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In "proposal" boards on various forums I often see people suggesting that picking up, say, a $4, 000, 000 player at midseason will only count as $2, 000, 000 towards said team's salary cap. Does anyone know if this is true? I would figure that their cap number does not change as the season progresses, but I have seen people suggest otherwise enough times to think that they may have seen something in writing that I have not. Any help is appreciated; thank you.
 

The Pucks

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it is kinda correct. A team can spend only 39 million on salary in a season. That means if you run with a projected 34 million dollar roster for half the season, you will have payed out 17 million at the half way point. You then would be able to spend 22 million in the 2nd half, or simply run a 44 million dollar roster.
 

shadoz19

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The Pucks said:
it is kinda correct. A team can spend only 39 million on salary in a season. That means if you run with a projected 34 million dollar roster for half the season, you will have payed out 17 million at the half way point. You then would be able to spend 22 million in the 2nd half, or simply run a 44 million dollar roster.

Basically what he said. Its cash basis. Its what you actually payout. So you could have a payroll of $38m for the whole season and then pick up a $5m player at the trade deadline and be ok. (Assuming 20% of the season remains so only $1m to be paid.)
 

Captain Ron

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shadoz19 said:
Basically what he said. Its cash basis. Its what you actually payout. So you could have a payroll of $38m for the whole season and then pick up a $5m player at the trade deadline and be ok. (Assuming 20% of the season remains so only $1m to be paid.)

Yes and no. This discussion has been on the business board for the last few days. In a way it is the actual money paid that season except for the situation of averaged contracts.

Look at Hossa's contract for example. He will be paid $5 million in "actual" salary this season. So you would then think that his cap hit is about $61k/game. But the contracts cap number is an average over the length of the contract. So even though Hossa will only be paid $5 million this year his cap hit will be $6 million or about $73k/game.

Hope this is not too confusing. :)
 

kdb209

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Spongebob said:
Yes and no. This discussion has been on the business board for the last few days. In a way it is the actual money paid that season except for the situation of averaged contracts.

Look at Hossa's contract for example. He will be paid $5 million in "actual" salary this season. So you would then think that his cap hit is about $61k/game. But the contracts cap number is an average over the length of the contract. So even though Hossa will only be paid $5 million this year his cap hit will be $6 million or about $73k/game.

Hope this is not too confusing. :)

And to make it even more confusing, it is (as far as we can tell) not just the total salary already paid out that counts against the cap as described, but also projected future salary commitments to players on the roster. A team can go with projected annual payroll of $38M ($1M cap headroom) and pick up a $4M salary player at the trading deadline - 20 games left so only 1/4 of the salary ($1M) will count against the cap. A team cannot have a projected annual payroll of over $39M and then try to shed players late in the year to get actual dollars spend below the cap.

My best guess how this is calculated out -

1. Every player has an annual cap salary. For players on 1 yr deals, it is just their salary. For players on multi year deals it is the yearly average salary (total $$$'s divided by total years). For ELS players it is average salary plus all possible bonuses (earned or not). For Vet/IR players on 1 yr deals it is salary - bonuses will count against dollars paid as they are earned.

2. From that you can get either a per-game or per-day cap salary per player - either divide by 82 games or 180-something days.

3. At any point during the season the total of salary dollars already paid to any players (currently on the roster or not) plus any future salary commitments (based on per-game or per-day salaries and the number of games/days left in the season) for players currently on the roster (or IR) must be less than the $39M cap.

4. Players with long term injuries (min 10 games and 24 days) still count against the cap, but while they are out, replacement player(s) salaries up to the IR players salary, are exempt from the cap.

5. During the offseason, the cap is based on the total annual salary of all players on one-way contracts plus qualifying offers and buyout payments. For players on two-way contracts, the cap hit is prorated based on the percentage of last season they were on an NHL roster. During this time, a team may exceed the next season's cap by 10%, but by Oct 1, they must be at or below the cap.
 
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kdb209

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JD said:
In "proposal" boards on various forums I often see people suggesting that picking up, say, a $4, 000, 000 player at midseason will only count as $2, 000, 000 towards said team's salary cap. Does anyone know if this is true? I would figure that their cap number does not change as the season progresses, but I have seen people suggest otherwise enough times to think that they may have seen something in writing that I have not. Any help is appreciated; thank you.

I specifically asked that question to Doug Wilson and Greg Jaimeson (GM and CEO/Owner of the Sharks): If a team trades for a $4M player with 20 games (1/4 season) left in the season, is the cap hit for the new team $1M or $4M, and can a team with only $1M cap room make that trade. The answers were $1M and yes.
 

Captain Ron

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Hey kdb209,

One thing you didn't address that I was trying to figure out.

How do they figure out what a player will count against the cap during the playoffs? Does the prorated cap figure end on the last game of the regular season? If so then a player like Elias could be on the IR the entire season and then get called up during the playoffs.

Or do you think it will be a situation where a player has to be in a certain amount of regular season games before they are eligible to play in the post season? I would be interested in finding this out.
 

kdb209

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Spongebob said:
Hey kdb209,

One thing you didn't address that I was trying to figure out.

How do they figure out what a player will count against the cap during the playoffs? Does the prorated cap figure end on the last game of the regular season? If so then a player like Elias could be on the IR the entire season and then get called up during the playoffs.

Or do you think it will be a situation where a player has to be in a certain amount of regular season games before they are eligible to play in the post season? I would be interested in finding this out.


The salary cap is only for the regular season - players are not paid salary during the playoffs. I'm not sure how playoff bonuses will be handled. There are league paid playoff bonuses (per round) that do not count against the team cap, but do count against the league wide 54% cap. But there are also existing (pre-lockout) contracts with bonus payments for playoffs - I'm not sure how they will be handled.

I believe that there is a deadline (before the end of the regular season) that a player has to be on the roster in order to be eligible for post-season play, so a players salry would start counting at that point.
 

colonel_korn

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Here's something I was wondering about (and I don't know if anyone knows the answer yet without the CBA being released). Say a player on your team gets injured and is out for 20 games or so. Some guy making the min is called up from your farm team to replace him. What's the cap hit? I assume that roughly 1/4 of the $450K for the guy you called up will count against the cap. Does 1/4 of the injured player's salary get deducted from the cap, or does his full averaged salary for the year still count against it?
 

SJeasy

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kdb209 said:
There are league paid playoff bonuses (per round) that do not count against the team cap, but do count against the league wide 54% cap.
I have been wondering about this. Is there a link? Thanks.
 

Bucky Katt

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colonel_korn said:
Here's something I was wondering about (and I don't know if anyone knows the answer yet without the CBA being released). Say a player on your team gets injured and is out for 20 games or so. Some guy making the min is called up from your farm team to replace him. What's the cap hit? I assume that roughly 1/4 of the $450K for the guy you called up will count against the cap. Does 1/4 of the injured player's salary get deducted from the cap, or does his full averaged salary for the year still count against it?

It is my understanding that the salary of the player continues to count against the cap even when he is on IR. The salary of the player called up to replace the player on IR does not count against the cap, unless the call-up has a higher salary than the player who is on IR. In that case, which would be quite rare, I believe the additional salary counts against the cap.

Another way of putting it is that the greater salary of the player on IR or the player that replaces him is included in the cap.
 

fr4ed2384

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"Here's something I was wondering about (and I don't know if anyone knows the answer yet without the CBA being released). Say a player on your team gets injured and is out for 20 games or so. Some guy making the min is called up from your farm team to replace him. What's the cap hit? I assume that roughly 1/4 of the $450K for the guy you called up will count against the cap. Does 1/4 of the injured player's salary get deducted from the cap, or does his full averaged salary for the year still count against it?"

ANswer
Quote --CBA FAQ NHL .com
"Clubs at or near the upper limit that have players who incur a bona fide long-term injury will be entitled to replace up to the full value of the injured player's NHL salary (even if such salary would result in the club's team salary exceeding the upper limit). The "replacement salary" will not count against the club's upper limit but will count against the League-wide players' share"

The replacement player salary at the MIN DOES NOT COUNT AT ALL -- the team still counts the injured player for all the time on IR.

ALso , included in the salary cap is the annualized charge for any buyouts ( basically 2/3 of the amount of a buyout divided by 2x the length of the remaining contract) -- This does not include buyouts made between 24 Jul and 1 Aug 05.
 

danaluvsthekings

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fr4ed2384 said:
Quote
"Here's something I was wondering about (and I don't know if anyone knows the answer yet without the CBA being released). Say a player on your team gets injured and is out for 20 games or so. Some guy making the min is called up from your farm team to replace him. What's the cap hit? I assume that roughly 1/4 of the $450K for the guy you called up will count against the cap. Does 1/4 of the injured player's salary get deducted from the cap, or does his full averaged salary for the year still count against it?"

ANswer
Quote --CBA FAQ NHL .com
"Clubs at or near the upper limit that have players who incur a bona fide long-term injury will be entitled to replace up to the full value of the injured player's NHL salary (even if such salary would result in the club's team salary exceeding the upper limit). The "replacement salary" will not count against the club's upper limit but will count against the League-wide players' share"

The replacement player salary at the MIN DOES NOT COUNT AT ALL -- the team still counts the injured player for all the time on IR.

ALso , included in the salary cap is the annualized charge for any buyouts ( basically 2/3 of the amount of a buyout divided by 2x the length of the remaining contract) -- This does not include buyouts made between 24 Jul and 1 Aug 05.

One important thing from the NHL CBA FAQ that you left out is the 10 games 24 days rule.

A Club's payroll will include all salaries, signing bonuses and performance bonuses paid to players. Except in the case of bona fide long-term injury (injuries that sideline a player for a minimum of 24 days and 10 games) to one or more of a club's players

Teams wont immediately be able to get the cap relief for the injured players.
http://www.nhl.com/nhlhq/cba/index.html
 

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danaluvsthekings said:
One important thing from the NHL CBA FAQ that you left out is the 10 games 24 days rule.



Teams wont immediately be able to get the cap relief for the injured players.
http://www.nhl.com/nhlhq/cba/index.html
Regarding your use of the term "immediately", it does not actually say what you think it says.

Nowhere does it refer to relief only coming ONCE a team has lost the player for the designated periods.

It may or may not be that way. It MAY very well be that a team will be permitted (with appropriate doctor validation) to deem a player to be unable to play for the designated periods in advance of actually reaching those periods. For example, if a player tears up his knee and is out for the season, it is straightforward to say that he is going to be out more than 10/24. In that scenario, a player can be replaced without the cap hit - right away (or as soon as a doctor can certify that to be the case). I would not be surprised if the CBA provides for a 10/24 injured reserve list where the player can go on once certified by a doctor, after which time that player is ineligible to return within the prescribed period.

My point is that you are reading quite a bit into that part of the CBA FAQ which is not in fact so spelled out.
 

MojoJojo

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My question is: whats the limit one can exceed the cap in this manner? If a team is $10 million under the cap by the deadline, can they pick up $40 million worth of contracts in deadline acquisitions? The projected payroll would still be well under the cap, but they would go into the post season with a $70 million dollar team. Does the 10% off season rule apply here?
 

Captain Ron

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MojoJojo said:
My question is: whats the limit one can exceed the cap in this manner? If a team is $10 million under the cap by the deadline, can they pick up $40 million worth of contracts in deadline acquisitions? The projected payroll would still be well under the cap, but they would go into the post season with a $70 million dollar team. Does the 10% off season rule apply here?

In theory you would be correct. But the odds of a team being able to add $40 million in deadline acquisitions is astronomical.

In regards the 10% offseason rule I believe the league would factor in what contracts expired at the end of the season. If the team would still be over the 10% rule them they (the league) would probably void any deadline acquisition that would potentially put the team over the 10% threshhold.
 
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