TSN: Seravalli: Rangers significant cap concerns (bonus cushion 7,5%).

[WesMcCauley]

SO the only way out of this now is to trade ELC guys who could earn bonuses for Draft picks or older players? Great.

I dont think they will have a problem getting under their cap ceiling, they still have a good amount of cap space. It will just make it impossible for Gorton to sign ufa's or trade for someone without moving a rfa or two who has significant bonuses in their contract.

 

[Jag68Sid87]

Yes and no.

This rule was fairly unknown until this moment. The reason being, most 1OA winners arent that lucky to get one the year after signing a top tier player in UFA. Most scorch the earth rebuilders wouldnt have this issue. They arent spending close to top.

Yes if they are going to take a bunch of bad contracts to really up their draft / prospect capital and spend near the max. That wouldnt make much sense business wise as the team wont bring in many fans.

The bonus cushion is already a benefit to teams. Is it reasonable to have a limit on that benefit?

Keep in mind it's not just ELC's. Boston for example signed Iginla to a $6m AAV contract in 2013-14 with $4.2m of that in readily achievable bonuses to stay within the cap.

It makes more sense. Thanks guys.

 

[SML2]

Silly question but what are the performance bonuses based on? How likely is it that all these players are going to reach whatever it is they have to reach to qualify for them, and were they written in to be pro rated in the event we play less than a traditional 82 games season?

 

[BananaSquad]

They dont have a problem getting under 81,5m with Eichel. The problem is that their cap ceiling decreases for every new rfa with potential bonuses they have in their lineup since they are already above the 7,5% bonus cushion. K'Andre Miller, Lafreniere and potentially more rfa's will be in the Rangers lineup next season.

Oh okay good . Why hasn’t the trade happened yet

 

[Nikishin Go Boom]

Silly question but what are the performance bonuses based on? How likely is it that all these players are going to reach whatever it is they have to reach to qualify for them, and were they written in to be pro rated in the event we play less than a traditional 82 games season?

A and B bonuses are based on goals scored and other performance measures. Its is structured and regulated.

The 35+ performance bonuses really dont have a structure or limit.

 

[IranCondraAffair]

I just looked, not a lot of guys you can move to reduce that bonus money. In fact, I don't think you can really move any of them. The big guys seem to be:

Kakko 2.6M
Fox: 850K
Shesterkin: 2.85M
+ a bunch of guys making 300K

I know the performance bonuses are going to start cost real money, but that is a hell of a pickle to be in. Anyone who makes significant bonuses is just too valuable (and cheap) to trade.

Kravstov and Barron are 850K each. Are they playing next year? Are they depth? If so, given that they'll cost 1.7M on the cap instead of 900K, it might be an option to move one of them for a veteran who only makes 800K.

 

[bernmeister]

why wouldnt they just trade kreider and re sign strome. no need for kreider with lafreniere

dat's not funny Rodney.
Rangers need more beast factor, more tufness not less

 

[SML2]

A and B bonuses are based on goals scored and other performance measures. Its is structured and regulated.

The 35+ performance bonuses really dont have a structure or limit.

Performance bonuses for ELC

 

[Team Cozens]

Rangers had Fox, Panarin and Lafreniere land in their laps. I’m looking for the smallest violin possible.

 

[Mackiaveli]

Rangers had Fox, Panarin and Lafreniere land in their laps. I’m looking for the smallest violin possible.

and Kakko.

 

[thadd]

Strome! Please come back to Edmonton! Our team was Pejorative Slured to trade you.

 

[Peter Peckerwood]

Rangers had Fox, Panarin and Lafreniere land in their laps. I’m looking for the smallest violin possible.

 

[ElLeetch]

Yep, not at all like MacKinnon, Byram, Landeskog, or Makar.

Had to really scour the depths of the scouting reports for those!

 

[The Crypto Guy]

Rangers had Fox, Panarin and Lafreniere land in their laps. I’m looking for the smallest violin possible.

Don't think a single Ranger fan is worried. But we appreciate the music offer.

 

[Khelandros]

I was assured the Rangers were getting ready to become the next NHL Dynasty.

 

[WesMcCauley]

Oh okay good . Why hasn’t the trade happened yet

Lol i dont think it will happen. But it might be one of the reasons for why Gorton is looking to move some of the top rfa talent intead of being more patient with Lafreniere and Kakko. Staying under 6,1m in potential bonuses will still be an issue in the 21/22 season so the Rangers might have a reduced cap that season too if they dont move Kakko or Lafreniere for example.

Eichel is obviously unlikely, but i can see why Gorton potentially would be willing to make a deal around Laf+Kakko for example to remove almost 6 million in potential bonuses while at the same time adding a superstar longterm.

 

[belair]

Are they really hard up against the cap? Wouldn't they just take the penalty?

 

[Alluckks]

This isn't really a concern at all

 

[NYRFANMANI]

I'm confused... because I see plenty of cap space.

 

[WesMcCauley]

Rangers had Fox, Panarin and Lafreniere land in their laps. I’m looking for the smallest violin possible.

I mean its not like they cant afford to keep the players they wanna keep. Its just that if they keep Strome and Deangelo for example, they cant do much else...
As much as i get why Gorton might be looking to get smart here and deal Kakko or Lafreniere its far from big problem cap wise. It just means they will have to be patient and not able to add many other players or make trades unless they move rfa's with potential bonuses, specially this season because of the high buy-out cap hits they have.

 

[GAGLine]

SO the only way out of this now is to trade ELC guys who could earn bonuses for Draft picks or older players? Great.

No. The overage eats into our available cap space. We can move other players to create space, but after moving Staal and buying out Hank, we are in a much better spot. We have enough cap space to re-sign our own players. If we don't qualify Strome, that gives us even more to work with, as Strome will likely get 4-5 mil in arbitration.

 

[Jerzey Devil]

Rangers had Fox, Panarin and Lafreniere land in their laps. I’m looking for the smallest violin possible.

Same with Kakko, Vesey, and Trouba.

 

[GAGLine]

I'm confused... because I see plenty of cap space.

This is what I have been trying to explain to people for the last month and a half.

The bonus cushion is 7.5% of the cap, which amounts to 6.1125 mil. Add up all the potential bonuses for the players on the roster. If the total is greater than 6.1125, reduce your available cap space by the remainder.

We are 1.1 mil over the limit before adding guys like Laf, Kravtsov, Miller, Barron and others who have bonuses. Laf will get 2.85 mil in bonuses, as every 1st overall pick does, so we will be at least 4 mil over the limit. That means we'll have 4 mil less in cap space that we can actually use.

 

[IranCondraAffair]

I'm confused... because I see plenty of cap space.

Here's the problem.

Right now, as far as the Rangers are concerned, unless they move someone like Fox, Kakko or Shesterkin, rookie bonus money = real money. Whoever they pick #1 is going to play in the NHL and cost around 3.7M in cap hit. Not 950K in cap hit like they normally do. With that in mind, the Rangers have 22M in cap space (23M - the 1.1M from the tweet)

Assuming Lafreniere takes up an additional 3.7M, that leaves them with 18M. They still need 4 forwards, 3 defensemen, and a goalie after that. If Strome costs 5M and so does Deangelo (which is completely reasonable). That leaves then with 8 million to sign Gregoriev and 5 other players. Again, not THAT hard.

Unfortunately as a result of everything above, they can't use a lot of their entry level contracts (rookies) to fill the roster. Normally team use rookies because they're cheap. Unfortunately a lot of the Ranger rookies will count for 1.6M against the cap instead of 800-900K, making it much harder to fill out the roster.


This is making it hard to fill out the roster without moving one of DeAngelo or Strome.

 

[WesMcCauley]

I'm confused... because I see plenty of cap space.

Right now they have around 23,1 m, minus around 1,1m in above bonus cushion so 22m. Add almost 3m more in above bonus cushion with Lafreniere and its 19 minus almost 1m in salary=18m. 18 million with 9 forwards , 4 defensemen and 1 goalie signed. Deangelo 5,5m+Strome4,5-5m=10ish minus 2-3 million for Georgiev. 5 million left for two defensemen, 3-4 forwards.


If Kravtsov and K'Andre Miller for example gets in the lineup their bonuses decreases the cap ceiling even further so not much to work with for Gorton in that sense. One issues is that this will continue to be a problem as Kakko, Kravtsov and Fox has two years left, Lafreniere, Miller and Lundkvist etc have 3 years left on elc.
Shesterkin only has one year left but he is so damn good that he will likely make tons of money on his next deal so that doesnt help much. Getting rid of almost 9 million in buy-out salary will help though prior to next season.

It just means that Gorton cant make any significant moves or signings without moving some of the rfa's if he doesnt wanna be patient and ride it out with all the rfa guys for the next 2-3 years.