Tell me what the Lightning SHOULD have done

[DomBarr]

It's October 2020. The Lightning won the Stanley Cup and we're about 2 weeks out. Julien Brisebois (JBB) has to sign: Erik Cernak, Mikhail Sergachev and Anthony Cirelli.

JBB basically has nothing for cap space. JBB responds by waiving Tyler Johnson hoping somebody bites.

No one does

Tyler Johnson clears waivers, Lightning still need salary cap relief

He waits out the market and nothing happens. Still have to sign the RFA's

JBB Signs Sergachev November 25th 2020. He has to right?

Kucherov reports hip discomfort December 3rd. Team responds with cortisone shots and palliative treatment. It is a well known fact this hip injury is a direct result of a groin injury sustained in game 1 5 OT marathon vs the CBJ in the playoffs. The Lightning are certainly aware of the recovery time necessary if you pursue hip surgery. Hint: it would be a very long time... about 5 or 6 months.

Still up in the air certainly. JBB does not make moves when he is not certain. He has to be careful right? You're not only in cap hell but your best player is not responding to treatment. He probably needs hip surgery.

I mean.... best wait and get a timetable right?

NHL, NHLPA announce plans for 2020-21 season, playoffs


NHL announces season schedule December 20th. Now stop there. JBB still has to Cirelli and Cernak to sign.

You're the GM of the Lightning. Your options are

1. Make Kucherov play on a bad hip --> You therefore gotta blow it up and deal from a bad position
2. Kucherov has surgery --> You blow it up anyway and deal from a bad position
3. Kucherov has surgery --> Re-sign RFA's and let the rest go from there

By December 22nd they go with option 3 and Kucherov has surgery on December 30th with the official announcement being made on the 23rd. They do it after Christmas **shocker**

Lightning's Nikita Kucherov needs hip surgery, out for regular season

Lightning optimistic following Kucherov’s hip surgery

The RFA's re-sign

So I ask you. How does a GM go about options 1 or 2. What do they say to the fans? "We are worried about fair play?" So they deal from a bad position while their star player recovers? Or they make their star player play on a bad hip and risk making it worse AND deal from a bad position?


YOU tell ME what the right thing to do is. If it's cap circumvention show me your homework. The injury was reported almost 3 weeks ahead of any kind of announced schedule. Show me the corrupted master plan and what should've been done differently

They did exactly what they should have done because it follows the rules and it is what it is...but nobody will convince people that he was not ready to come back earlier and it is only because of their cap situation he missed the full season only to be ready to go game 1.

 

[theimmortal1]

You guys do realize the cap is a daily calculation.

Let’s say Kuch came back for the last 5 games. That’s a very small % of his salary that would be applied to the cap. Having that space available is like the difference vs Maroon and a rookie for a full season.

 

[LightningStrikes]

Let’s rather be happy he came back early and grace us with amazing hockey. Even when limping through it on a broken hip, it’s a treat to watch (speaking as a hockey fan first).

 

[These Are The Days]

You guys do realize the cap is a daily calculation.

Let’s say Kuch came back for the last 5 games. That’s a very small % of his salary that would be applied to the cap. Having that space available is like the difference vs Maroon and a rookie for a full season.

Funny story how if this exact story played out with someone like Pat Maroon nobody would've given a shit. It's only cap circumvention and "violating the spirit" because it's Kucherov. The only thing that's been violated is people's feelies

 

[GreenLine]

Should have done what they did I guess, but the league should find a way to close this loophole going forward. Play inside the rules you’re given, that’s okay by me.

Easy. Put a cap in place for the playoffs that's not pro-rated. If you're over, you have to dress a cheaper player instead.

But they won't do that because the cap has always been about cost certainty more than anything else.

 

[theimmortal1]

Easy. Put a cap in place for the playoffs that's not pro-rated. If you're over, you have to dress a cheaper player instead.

But they won't do that because the cap has always been about cost certainty more than anything else.

Players wouldn’t go for that. That would force them to take paycuts and would kill the trade deadline.

And if you only care about the “iced” salary then most teams are over and the Bolts truly aren’t that different.

 

[These Are The Days]

By the way..... for the sake of accuracy.

The $98 million ($18 million over the cap) figure the likes of Dougie Hamilton recites is bull. That's the sum total of all the minor leaguers we can call up that you're never going to see. The team you DO see every single night however, was cap compliant (aka under $81.5 million) the entire season and is only presently over only by the sum of Kucherov's salary.


If this was Blake Coleman, not a single one of you would have cared or cried conspiracy

 

[Gnome17]

They played within the rules, it is what it is. Its scummy but legal.
The rules are flawed, there should be a rule saying that, in order to play in the playoffs a player need to have been in the lineup during the regular season. That way Kucherov would have had to come back at the end of the season and he would have counted towards the cap.

 

[Outl4w]

Anyone who thinks an elite player is gonna take an entire year off of his legacy and his hall of fame status for a team is laugh out loud. He got hurt and got surgery and the timeline worked out. No player is delaying surgery months to help their team. Stop this

Only someone really dumb or jealous would think that.

 

[AfroThunder396]

It's not Tampa's fault for doing it, it's the leagues fault for not doing anything. The have power and precedent to punish teams for violating the spirit of the CBA and have exercised those powers in the past.

 

[MikeyMike01]

By the way..... for the sake of accuracy.

The $98 million ($18 million over the cap) figure the likes of Dougie Hamilton recites is bull. That's the sum total of all the minor leaguers we can call up that you're never going to see. The team you DO see every single night however, was cap compliant (aka under $81.5 million) the entire season and is only presently over only by the sum of Kucherov's salary.

There’s nothing ‘bull’ about the 18M figure. Every team has backups on their payroll. The salary cap includes those players, not just the starters. You don’t get to ignore their salaries for your convenience. The Lightning are 18M over the cap. That’s an indisputable fact.

 

[Lame Lambert]

This isn’t TBL’s fault, it’s the NHL’s. They killed NJ over the Kovalchuk contract because it “violated the ‘spirit’ of the CBA”, even though it was perfectly legal and plenty of teams did it before them.

Then last year Bill Daly bans newly signed players like Sorokin and Kaprisov from playing because he didn’t want “ringers” in the bubble.

Now this year TB does something that both “violates the spirit of the CBA” and brings in “ringers” to the playoffs and they don’t do anything about it.

 

[theimmortal1]

There’s nothing ‘bull’ about the 18M figure. Every team has backups on their payroll. The salary cap includes those players, not just the starters. You don’t get to ignore their salaries for your convenience. The Lightning are 18M over the cap. That’s an indisputable fact.

Are you up in arms with the Islanders being $8m over? Seems a bit hilarious that Islander fans are freaked out about the Lightning but are totally ok with their team being well over the cap

 

[MikeyMike01]

Are you up in arms with the Islanders being $8m over? Seems a bit hilarious that Islander fans are freaked out about the Lightning but are totally ok with their team being well over the cap

I’m not ‘freaking out’ about anything. I’m correcting a factually false statement. You are trying to distract from that with personal attacks.

 

[BigDaddyLurch]

...so is it all LTIR contracts should count now??...cuz if that's the case, damn near everyone is or was over the cap...

 

[Oddbob]

You take the hit and deal Tyler Johnson.

 

[Oddbob]

Or they could have proved it wasn't to get around the cap by having him come back before the season was over when they didn't have enough cap. The thing that makes this look really ugly to me, is he had what was described as a much needed surgery and not only was their no rust to speak of when he comes back, he is their best player right off the top, playing at Conn Smythe pace.

I don't doubt he needed surgery, I doubt the timeline for return. If they had no cap issue, I bet he was back much sooner than he was.

 

[GreenLine]

Players wouldn’t go for that. That would force them to take paycuts and would kill the trade deadline.

And if you only care about the “iced” salary then most teams are over and the Bolts truly aren’t that different.

Of course they wouldn't. As I said, I don't think the owners care either. They want cost certainty. I really doubt parity among playoff teams is a concern. This is right up there with state taxes as far as things that the league has no incentive to "fix".

 

[BigDaddyLurch]

...they should be made to spin the Parros Monkey Wheel and donate Kucherov & Point to whichever team the wheel hits...






...it'll be Vegas, guaranteed...

 

[Krewe]

Or they could have proved it wasn't to get around the cap by having him come back before the season was over when they didn't have enough cap. The thing that makes this look really ugly to me, is he had what was described as a much needed surgery and not only was their no rust to speak of when he comes back, he is their best player right off the top, playing at Conn Smythe pace.

I don't doubt he needed surgery, I doubt the timeline for return. If they had no cap issue, I bet he was back much sooner than he was.

timeline for return exactly matches Pastrnak for the same surgery, and came back sooner than Point and Seguin did.

From watching him you can tell his skating is still not back fully. The most likely scenario is they rushed his timeline slightly to get him back in time for the playoffs. Similar to how many players will play through injury because it's the playoffs, they likely cut his rehab short because its for the playoffs

 

[Nemesis Prime]

Imagine having to be 18 million over the cap to win a cup.

 

[Krewe]

Imagine having to be 18 million over the cap to win a cup.

Hard to imagine because our roster is not 18M over the cap unless you use the 34 man roster, at which point you might want to take a look at the isles as well with their own 90M roster

 

[WarriorofTime]

If people want to have a salary cap in the Playoffs, the CBA needs to change. Problem is the Players Association will fight tooth and nail against it. It would basically mean the owners would have to be willing to lockout another season in order to get it in place. Maybe some are petty enough to want another season cancelled because they are upset about the Lightning having a good team, but I remember 04-05 and waiting every day, hoping the season would come that never did until they announced it was officially cancelled. It sucked.

 

[Subbanned]

they cheated and if they win it should have a notable asterix beside it, simple

 

[WarriorofTime]

they cheated and if they win it should have a notable asterix beside it, simple

They cheated? Shit, someone should tell the League.