OK, but the point I was making is that its not unusual for teams that have won the Cup to have to move players because of cap issues. I didn't say the words "cap dump" anywhere in my post.
The other thing to consider is that there wasn't a flat cap or tough economic times due to a pandemic until now either, so the current situation is definitely a very unusual circumstance. This means that teams will be watching the financial picture much more so than in years past. So, its quite possible (or likely) what will unfold in this situation not will be "typical" in any way either. The current situation goes beyond just a cap crunch. We will see what the end result is in due time.
This basically, it’s the cap apocalypse. BriseBois, like every GM, was planning to limbo under a cap limit that was going to be rising every year. Teams were counting especially on a generous bump in 21-21 from Seattle, since the Vegas $ led to 4.5m bump in 18-19. The cap instead is frozen for two years and the increases in the following two years, if any, will be very modest.
Despite the somewhat outlandish numbers quoted from league sources right before everything went to hell, some thought the cap was only going up 2-2.5m due to escrow issues. However even the cap went 2m in this season and the next and then 4.5m, which is a very conservative estimate of non-COVID growth, that’s still 263.5m new cap space for the 31 current teams over three years.
Teams need to conserve cap space for their players on ELCs and their RFAs. And all this is ignoring the internal caps that teams have while revenue is not a thing.
This is a list of every forward to receive a standard contract 3 years or longer since May 1st:
Anderson (Montreal) 7 years/5.5m [RFA]
Gallagher (Montreal) 6 years/6.5m
[21-22 ext]
Toffoli (Montreal) 4 years/4.25m
[UFA]
Lebanc (San Jose) 4 years/4.725m [RFA]
Stephenson (Vegas) 4 years/2.75m [RFA]
Dadonov (Ottawa) 3 years/5m
[UFA]
Smith (Boston) 3 years/3.10m
[UFA]
Girgensons (Buffalo) 3 years/2.2m
[UFA]
Fast (Carolina) 3 years/2m
[UFA]
Grant (Anaheim) 3 years/1.5m
[UFA]
C. Brown (Ottawa) 3 years/3.6m [RFA]
Lindblom (Philadelphia) 3 year/3.0m [RFA]
Bjork (Boston) 3 years/1.6m [RFA]
Terry (Anaheim) 3 years/1.45m [RFA]
T. Thompson (Buffalo) 3 years/1.4m [RFA]
A. Wagner (LA) 3 years/1.13m [RFA]
Other than, uh, whatever Bergevin is doing it’s clear that teams are being the most conservative with forward contracts. The majority of bigger UFA deals were to defensemen and goalies, GMs want bargains and short term deals for forwards. Even the majority of non-forward deals were with teams replacing a major lost piece, with only Vegas made the usual big UFA splash (and, uh, Montreal).
The point of all this is Tampa wants to move those forward contracts without retaining salary or taking salary back then those contracts are the equivalent of UFA deals that no forwards weren’t getting this year. Even the few exceptions don’t seem applicable anywhere else, Bergevin is marching to beat of his own drum with the deals he’s giving out right now and Dadonov likely got the money Duclair turned down that was part of the Sen’s budget to reach the floor. There’s no market.
Maybe sweeteners can get Johnson moved, but four years makes it tough. I’m surprised BriseBois hasn’t shopped Killorn yet, he should be easier to move. I still feel like maybe teams aren’t doing painful cap dumps until they have to and that means when actual NHL games are scheduled. Vegas needed the space to sign AP and Toews filed for arbitration, but the 2020-21 season is a little hazy still so GMs might be holding off on doing anything drastic.