But the savings are marginal, on the order of ~$50k per year.
Things will get tight in the future, but really that's nothing.
I don't think its nothing...
Let's take a $49,000,000 (I think most on both sides would be happy with 7 x 7M) contract and front load it...
2018-2019 - $11,000,000
2019-2020 - $8,000,000
2020-2021 - $6,000,000
2021-2022 - $6,000,000
2022-2023 - $6,000,000
2023-2024 - $6,000,000
2024-2025 - $6,000,000
Total = 49,000,000
(3 days ago) Cap Hit (2019-2020 to 2024-2025) = ($11,000,000 *
163/180 + $38,000,000) / 7 = 6,851,587
(2 days ago) Cap Hit (2019-2020 to 2024-2025) = ($11,000,000 *
162/180 + $38,000,000) / 7 = 6,842,857
(yesterday) Cap Hit (2019-2020 to 2024-2025) = ($11,000,000 *
161/180 + $38,000,000) / 7 = 6,834,126
(today) Cap Hit (2019-2020 to 2024-2025) = ($11,000,000 *
160/180 + $38,000,000) / 7 = 6,825,396
(today) Cap hit (2018-19) = $6,825,396 * 180 / 160 = $7,678,570
...
(December 1st) Cap Hit (2019-2020 to 2024-2025) = ($11,000,000 *
122/180 + $38,000,000) / 7 = 6,493,650
Based on today:
2018-2019 cap hit – $7,678,570
2019-2025 cap hit – $6,825,396
We have already saved ourselves almost $175K off of Nylander per year for the years 2019 until 2025 ($175K cap savings for 6 years)
For each passing day that Nylander remains unsigned we are saving almost 9K per year off of our cap hit . OR it is 9K more per year we can add on to his contract to make him happy. Depending on which way you want to look at it. It could be a savings of a 1/2 mil per year if we wait till Dec. 1st. That is significant. Heck 175K currently per year is significant.
Please if anyone finds something wrong here I will not be offended and please point it out as I would like to learn more.
I did the math myself so I might be off here or there but I believe this is legit.
I am using the following rules.
For RFA that has held out past the start of the season but before Dec 1:
NHL CBA FAQ - CapFriendly - NHL Salary Caps
For NHL contract rules and their variance (regarding front loading and how much you can go up or down year by year):
So you want to sign an SPC
PS. It might be cap circumvention of some sort but I don't think it is intentional because ask any leaf fan how they are feeling about this situation. It can leave negative impressions with fans, team and management. It can easily change people's views.
Heck we care more about Nylander contract status than our GDT's and that is depressing.