Quote:
Originally Posted by secretsquirrel
Good point. I had forgotten about that. The Stars could potentially be in a very good position this summer. There are a few teams that could be in cap trouble with the new CBA. It would be nice if Dallas could use that to leverage a favorable trade or two, or sign someone like Parise.
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Top 10 Potential Teams in Cap Danger
Assumptions:
1) After the new CBA, the cap falls to $60 million.
2) Brian Burke is correct, and you can't just bury veterans on one-way contracts anymore to solve cap problems.
3) Adjusted Payroll - I don't know if they bonus cushion is coming back so the adjusted payroll is the team's cap situation if the bonus cushion comes back. In some cases, I'll also list potential LTIR candidates.
#10 Boston Bruins
Payroll: $56,448,810 with 16 players
Adjusted Payroll: $49,591,667 (Savard LTIR, Bonus money for Seguin, Caron)
Key Unsigned Players: Kelly, Rask
Likely Trade Targets: Horton ($4,000,000), Caron ($1,100,000), Pouliot (RFA), Tim Thomas ($5,000,000)
No major players are unsigned, and they have enough cap space to fill out the roster. They're in pretty good shape unless they want to acquire an impact (high cap hit) player.
#9 LA Kings
Payroll: $54,245,227 with 20 players
Adjusted Payroll: $54,115,227 (Bonus money for Clifford)
Key Unsigned Players: Penner, Stoll
Likely Trade Targets: Williams ($3,650,000), Gagne ($3,500,000), Brown ($3,175,000), Scuderi ($3,400,000), Greene ($2,950,000), Bernier ($1,250,000)
See Boston.
#8 San Jose Sharks
Payroll: $55,564,167 with 14 players
Adjusted Payroll: $55,564,167
Key Unsigned Players: Braun
Likely Trade Targets: N/A
See Boston.
#7 Philadelphia Flyers
Payroll: $61,218,373 with 20 players
Adjusted Payroll: $52,741,944 (Pronger LTIR, Bonus money for Bobrovsky, Couturier, and Schenn)
Key Unsigned Players: Jagr, Voracek, Kubina, and Carle
Likely Trade Targets: Voracek (RFA), Van Riemsdyk ($4,250,000), Meszaros ($4,000,000)
Definitely the most complicated. They have a ton of cap hits, but Pronger's health and the bonus cushion will have a major impact.
#6 NY Rangers
Payroll: $54,358,334 with 15 players
Adjusted Payroll: $53,745,834 (Bonus money for Hagelin, McDonagh)
Key Unsigned Players: Fedotenko, Del Zotto
Likely Trade Targets: Dubinsky ($4,200,000), Anisimov ($1,875,000), Boyle ($1,700,000), Rupp ($1,500,000)
See Chicago. I'll add though that Redden doesn't hurt their financial position too much, and he may not even count depending on how CBA negotiations go. Acquiring Nash wouldn't hurt them much either since Dubinsky would probably be going the other way.
#5 Vancouver Canucks
Payroll: $55,078,333 with 17 players
Adjusted Payroll: $55,078,333
Key Unsigned Players: Phalsson, Raymond, Salo, Schneider
Likely Trade Targets: Schneider (RFA), Raymond (RFA), Malhotra ($2,500,000), Ballard ($4,200,000)
See Boston.
#4 Chicago Blackhawks
Payroll: $57,456,794 with 20 players
Adjusted Payroll: $56,809,294 (Bonus money for Hayes, Leddy, Olsen)
Key Unsigned Players: N/A
Likely Trade Targets: Bolland ($3,375,000), Frolik ($2,333,333), Hjalmarsson ($3,500,000), Montador ($2,750,000)
See Boston.
#3 Buffalo Sabres
Payroll: $57,812,856 with 18 players
Adjusted Payroll: $56,752,856 (Bonus money for Hodgson, McNabb)
Key Unsigned Players: Hecht, Ennis, Kaleta
Likely Trade Targets: Leino ($4,500,000), Roy ($4,000,000), Stafford ($4,000,000), Leopold ($3,000,000), Sekera ($2,750,000)
After a very disappointing year, they'll probably cut payroll and not spend nearly as much. They have to move someone just to re-sign their players and fill out the roster.
#2 Toronto Maple Leafs
Payroll: $56,703,333 with 17 players
Adjusted Payroll: $56,490,833 (Bonus money for Gardiner)
Key Unsigned Players: Kulemin, Frattin, Franson, Gustavsson
Likely Trade Targets: Connolly ($4,750,000), Lombardi ($3,500,000), MacArthur ($3,250,000), Armstrong ($3,000,000), Komisarek ($4,500,000)
No key member of the team is unsigned, but like Pittsburgh, they don't have much room to make changes. They also have probably the least desirable players with the highest cap hits of the rest of the teams in the Top 10.
#1 Pittsburgh Penguins
Payroll: $59,566,667 with 18 players
Adjusted Payroll: $59,566,667
Key Unsigned Players: Sullivan, Niskanen
Likely Trade Targets: Kunitz ($3,725,000), Kennedy ($2,000,000), Cooke ($1,800,000), Dupris ($1,500,000), Martin ($5,000,000), Michalek ($4,000,000), Orpik ($3,750,000)
All of their key players are really signed, but they need to fill out the roster and have no room to do it. They also don't have the cap space right now to make major changes if they get embarrassed by Phili and knocked out in 4 or 5. They'd either have to go into next year with a similar roster or trade several players.
i like these odds. Having JVR on Benns wing would be good. But i would prefer Parise on Benns wing. JVR would be a good 2nd line winger to Ryder and Ribs (if not traded)
could have helped drive the point that that statement was sarcastic.
