What do Campbell, Huet, Sopel, Ladd, Boynton, Bolland, Madden, Beach and Barker have in common?
by Quisp on Jun 10, 2010 11:02 PM PDT
in Capmania, Capaphobia, Capaphilia, Capnesia
36 comments
In my previous posts outlining Chicago's clusterf*** of a cap situation for 2010-2011, I took it for granted that they had their bonus cushion situation under control. I was wrong. If the reports are true, Toews earned $1.3MM of his bonus by winning the Conn Smythe. What this means:
[we're talking about cap numbers for this season, not next season]
Chicago's cap hit 2009-2010: $60.724MM
Chicago's bonus cushion: $4.260MM
Chicago's cap hit factoring in the bonus cushion: $56.464MM
Cap space (employing bonus cushion): $336K
The bonus cushion, for those who aren't nerdy enough to dig into it, is essentially a cap-ceiling line of credit a GM has to spend during the regular season; GM is allowed to exceed the cap by the amount of the bonus cushion, provided that as soon as any potential bonuses become actual bonus payments the team immediately gets down below the cap. If at the end of the season, the team is over the cap because of bonuses paid, the amount of overage is subtracted from the team's cap ceiling the following season. So, obviously, nobody in his right mind wants to spend the bonus cushion and get caught with his pants down.
Which is what just happened.
The $1.3MM bonus puts Chicago $964,000 over the cap. So whatever the cap is next year for everyone else, it will be nearly a million dollars lower for the Hawks. That is just deadly.
This is as good a time as any to revisit the Chicago cap projections for next season. So I'm going to go back to my old figures and update them. Here we go:
We'll start with the roster as is. Neimi, Ladd, Eager and Hjalmarsson are due raises. I'm going to call it $3MM, $3MM, $1.8MM and $1.2MM. Your mileage may vary (feel free to offer better number than these in the comments; I think these are good enough ball-parks, but I will tweak under advisement). I figure Kyle Beach is ready, so let's imagine he makes the team in the fall. And then we can fill out the roster with minimum wagers. It ends up looking like this:
| 2010-11 Chicago Blackhawks | ||
| PLAYER | BONUS | CAP HIT |
| FORWARDS | ||
| Jonathan Toews | — | $6,300,000 |
| Patrick Kane | — | $6,300,000 |
| Marian Hossa | — | $5,275,000 |
| Patrick Sharp | — | $3,900,000 |
| Dave Bolland | — | $3,375,000 |
| Kris Versteeg | — | $3,083,333 |
| * Andrew Ladd | — | $3,000,000 |
| Dustin Byfuglien | — | $3,000,000 |
| * Ben Eager | — | $1,800,000 |
| Kyle Beach | ($325,000) | $1,200,000 |
| Tomas Kopecky | — | $1,200,000 |
| Troy Brouwer | — | $1,025,000 |
| * Adam Burish | — | $712,000 |
| DEFENSEMEN | ||
| Brian Campbell | — | $7,142,875 |
| Duncan Keith | — | $5,538,462 |
| Brent Seabrook | — | $3,500,000 |
| Brent Sopel | — | $2,333,333 |
| * Nick Boynton | — | $1,500,000 |
| * Niklas Hjalmarsson | — | $1,200,000 |
| Brian Connelly | ($287,500) | $875,000 |
| GOALTENDERS | ||
| Cristobal Huet | — | $5,625,000 |
| * Antti Niemi | — | $3,000,000 |
| * BONUS CUSHION PENALTY | — | $964,000 |
| ROSTER SIZE | 22 | |
| SALARY CAP | $56,800,000 | |
| PAYROLL | $71,849,003 | |
| BONUSES | $612,500 | |
| CAP SPACE | ($14,436,503) | |
Hmm. $14.4MM over the cap. That seems like a lot.
So, let's look at some potential strategies. Just brainstorming. 1) Hope the cap goes up by fifteen million dollars. 2) Hope for off-season career-ending injuries. 3) Hope their are GMs out there who are actually willing to do the Hawks "a solid," or else are even stupider than they are. 4) Seriously, try to get rid of some of these salaries. Toward that end...
Players they simply cannot touch:
- Toews
- Kane
- Neimi
- Keith
- Hossa
- Byfuglien
- Campbell
- Huet
- Sharp
- Ladd
- Seabrook
- Bolland
- Versteeg
- Sopel
- trade them, giving away other assets as incentives.
- bury them in the minors, Huet for two years, Campbell for six.
- buy them out.
Buying out Huet reduces his cap hit to $1.875MM for four years. That's a savings of $3.75MM (cap hit).[...]Brian Campbell. Buy-out reduces cap hit to $2.381MM. Savings is $4.762MM.(However, please note that the Campbell buy-out cap hit will be on the books until, wait for it......7/1/2022!That probably seems farther away than it is.
| Jonathan Toews | — | $6,300,000 |
| Patrick Kane | — | $6,300,000 |
| Marian Hossa | — | $5,275,000 |
| Patrick Sharp | — | $3,900,000 |
| Dave Bolland | — | $3,375,000 |
| Kris Versteeg | — | $3,083,333 |
| * Andrew Ladd | — | $3,000,000 |
| Dustin Byfuglien | — | $3,000,000 |
| * Ben Eager | — | $1,800,000 |
| Kyle Beach | ($325,000) | $1,200,000 |
| Tomas Kopecky | — | $1,200,000 |
| Troy Brouwer | — | $1,025,000 |
| * BONUS CUSHION PENALTY | — | $964,000 |
| * Adam Burish | — | $712,000 |
| DEFENSEMEN | ||
| Duncan Keith | — | $5,538,462 |
| Brent Seabrook | — | $3,500,000 |
| * Campbell BUYOUT | — | $2,381,000 |
| * Nick Boynton | — | $1,500,000 |
| * Niklas Hjalmarsson | — | $1,200,000 |
| * Sopel BUYOUT | — | $1,000,000 |
| Ryan Stanton | ($305,000) | $897,500 |
| Brian Connelly | ($287,500) | $875,000 |
| Simon Danis-Pepin | ($275,000) | $850,000 |
| GOALTENDERS | ||
| * Antti Niemi | — | $3,000,000 |
| * Huet BUYOUT | — | $1,875,000 |
| Corey Crawford | — | $800,000 |
| ROSTER SIZE | 22 | |
| SALARY CAP | $56,800,000 | |
| PAYROLL | $64,551,295 | |
| BONUSES | $1,192,500 | |
| CAP SPACE | ($6,558,795) |
- Sharp
- Ladd
- Seabrook
- Bolland
- Versteeg
| Jonathan Toews | — | $6,300,000 |
| Patrick Kane | — | $6,300,000 |
| Marian Hossa | — | $5,275,000 |
| Patrick Sharp | — | $3,900,000 |
| Kris Versteeg | — | $3,083,333 |
| Dustin Byfuglien | — | $3,000,000 |
| * Ben Eager | — | $1,800,000 |
| Tomas Kopecky | — | $1,200,000 |
| Troy Brouwer | — | $1,025,000 |
| * BONUS CUSHION PENALTY | — | $964,000 |
| Akim Aliu | ($22,500) | $845,833 |
| Ben Smith | ($220,000) | $812,500 |
| * Adam Burish | — | $712,000 |
| Brandon Bollig | — | $545,000 |
| DEFENSEMEN | ||
| Duncan Keith | — | $5,538,462 |
| Brent Seabrook | — | $3,500,000 |
| * Campbell BUYOUT | — | $2,381,000 |
| * Niklas Hjalmarsson | — | $1,200,000 |
| * Sopel BUYOUT | — | $1,000,000 |
| Ryan Stanton | ($305,000) | $897,500 |
| Brian Connelly | ($287,500) | $875,000 |
| Simon Danis-Pepin | ($275,000) | $850,000 |
| Shawn Lalonde | ($195,000) | $800,000 |
| GOALTENDERS | ||
| * Antti Niemi | — | $3,000,000 |
| * Huet BUYOUT | — | $1,875,000 |
| Corey Crawford | — | $800,000 |
| BUYOUTS | ||
| ROSTER SIZE | 22 | |
| SALARY CAP | $56,800,000 | |
| PAYROLL | $58,479,628 | |
| BONUSES | $1,305,000 | |
| CAP SPACE | ($374,628) |
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Hmmm
I’m not a cap nerd, but sending a guy to minors does not count on cap?
If I’m byfuglien I shop around for more and go elsewhere.
I would love to see the Kings try to snipe Sharp or Versteeg from the Hawks. Let’s say for a bag of pucks, which won’t count against their cap :)
http://www.prosportsblogging.com
by Great Ice-Pectations on Jun 11, 2010 12:25 AM PDT reply actions
As long as they don't sign those pucks to a $10m a year contract.
Which is entirely possible.
by 88fingerslukee on Jun 12, 2010 7:50 AM PDT up reply actions
E-evil... E-EVIL...
My skeptical side tells me that although stashing Huet and Campbell in the AHL would indeed be evil, if it can be done it probably will be done, or at least seriously considered.
However, I would also expect that doing so would summon hellstorms of fury from both the NHLPA (because you’re basically imprisoning NHL-grade players during their productive years) and the owners (because it kind of circumvents the fiscal discipline that the cap is supposed to enforce). So maybe the prospect of becoming pariahs will stay the Hawks.
In addition,
although it is not a huge deal at the moment it could really hurt Chicago in the future by destroying their credibility with potential UFA’s that they want to sign. Let’s say 5 years from now they try to go after another Campbell-like player and offer him a huge longterm contract, then if I’m that player I’m saying NO WAY since you offered that to Campbell and then stuck him in the minors for 6 years, basically until the end of his career.
The NHLPA would be pissed and the owner I doubt likes this because even if he is doing well financially with the team(which I doubt due to economy and it seems like not a lot of NHL teams really make tons and tons of money for the owners) then he is going to be paying over $70 million for the next couple years and still have probably only a decent team due to all the young/super cheap players that are forced onto the roster to replace the good, expensive players buried in the minors or traded. I just don’t see them burying both guys in the minors.
Huet is a minor possibility to go down and be buried, but Campbell also has a NMC if i remember right meaning he could just block CHI from sending him down or trading him if he really wanted to. Huet I don’t think has any NTC or NMC but I could be mistaken just as I may remember wrong on Campbell.
OK, nevermind all that NMC and NTC stuff I said before
I looked it up and Campbell has a NTC but not a NMC and Huet has nothing at all. So this would make Campbell even harder to trade since I could see him blocking a move that would put him on a really bad team using his NTC. His NTC allows him to list 8 teams he would be willing to go to and I’m sure they would all be good teams lacking cap space to really add him making him even more untradeable although they could bury him in minors as Quisp outlined before since he doesn’t have a NMC
Good point
It would be a bad precedent from individual players’ points of view, as well as the NHLPA. Could hamstring them for years to come: “Sorry, but I don’t want to be Brian Campbell-ed.”
How about this...
Perhaps the most likely solution for Campbell is that he gets traded to someone in exchange for some of their toxic contracts, but players with a lower profile than Campbell’s? Those players could then be stashed in the minors with less fuss, or even better, lost to waivers on their way down.
A little bit like how the Kings got Colorado to take Preissing’s contract in the Smyth trade. Campbell, like Smyth, still has residual value and would be quite useful to a lot of teams.
Of course, Chicago still loses Campbell for essentially nothing that way, but maybe they could at least pick up a draft pick or something in the process.
could happen. but then they're taking salary back, which they then have to dispose of (as you say)
Wait till this year.
Brian Campbell can’t be traded. Well, I guess he can but it would be the stupidest decision any GM could ever make. Campbell’s deal is worse than Gomez’s because it’s 2 years longer and never decreases in salary. He has the 2nd highest cap hit of any defenseman, behind only Zdeno Chara. He’s not going anywhere.
Except maybe to the AHL.
http://www.prosportsblogging.com
by Great Ice-Pectations on Jun 11, 2010 10:09 AM PDT up reply actions
He’s not a bad player, he’s just a bad contract. Maybe bury Huet there, but Campbell…I would make moves elsewhere, and just endure the cap hit.
(Whenever anybody says Dale Tallon is great, I just giggle.)
In Dinglebarn We Trust
You’re right, I would bury Huet in the minors before Campbell. At least Campbell will see some ice-time, but with Niemi, Huet will be a $5+ million hat model.
http://www.prosportsblogging.com
by Great Ice-Pectations on Jun 11, 2010 1:20 PM PDT up reply actions
Tee-hee :-D
I lived in Chicago for a while, and sometimes watched/listened to Hawks broadcasts. Pat Foley and Dale Tallon were a fine broadcasting team. But… I never really figured Tallon for GM material, let’s just put it that way. :-)
I would have loved being a fly on the wall when that contract was negotiated.
Dale Tallon: There, that seems reasonable. After all, it’s a smidgeon less than Chara’s getting!
Brian Campbell: And no one will ever resent me for this contract that pays me 7.14 million ‘til I’m 37! I’m that good!
Tallon: Pop the champagne, let’s sign!
(five minutes later)
Tallon: Wooo, I bet those Sharks are pissing themselves now! Hahaha!
Campbell: …can I have another hit off of that?
In Dinglebarn We Trust
Does anyone else think that Campbell might actually make a great fit in Vancouver? Their weakest link in the playoffs seemed to be a lack of a fast skating, pucking moving defenseman…
and on the 93rd postseason of the National Hockey League, the Slovakian-hockeygod Zeus commanded from high atop Mount Figueroa..."RELEASE THE MEAT TRAIN!" And it was good.
by DodgerBlueBalls on Jun 11, 2010 5:03 PM PDT up reply actions
No.
Vancouver already has Edler, Ehrhoff. Canucks need a shut-down guy. Do not want Soupy and his huge contract.
"But yeah…like CC…I harbour no ill will." - VancityDan
by Chuckles Canuckles on Jun 12, 2010 3:27 AM PDT up reply actions
If they sent Campbell down and then called him back up, any team who takes him would be on the hook for only half right? And Chicago would still have to pay the other half? I could see someone like Edmonton doing that, although it wouldn’t be entirely helpful to the Hawks.
Ah - BUT
In order for Campbell to get to re-entry waivers he would have to be recalled, and he can only be recalled if Chicago has the space to recall him if he clears waivers. That is, they can’t recall him (and make him available for someone to grab him at half price) if they don’t already have $7.2MM of cap space. Which, as I think we can all see, they are never going to have, not now and not for the next five years at least.
It’s side-splittingly hilarious, really.
Wait till this year.
That's my fear, also
In general, as well as in this instance. With 30 GMs in the league, there always seems to be one who will do something that you thought unthinkable.
All I know is that Lombardi should be able to get at least one of your "eligibles"
My guess is the Hawks will let go of Patrick Sharp, if only because he makes 3.9, the most of the group. His loss would generate the most space from one player. Second idea is that Bolland is so valuable defensively that they will keep him, which makes Versteeg possibly available.
If they are gonna lose Seabrook, what would you think of giving Hickey or Tuebert? They both have time before they would deserve big money, so it would work for the Hawks. As for the Kings, I look at it this way: best case scenario is that one of Hickey and Teubert could some day become as valuable as Seabrook is right now, but no guarantee. Meanwhile, if we get Seabrook, we already have that level player while years pass waiting for Hickey or Tuebert to become that good, if they ever do.
My Versteeg man-crush might have just gone three-way with Seabrook.
Ewwww.
End Corporate Personhood.
Sharp!!!
I say we go after Sharp!
And once again an amazingly insightful read…..
"It's not illegal. It's frowned upon, like masturbating on an airplane."-Alan Garner
Every team in the NHL is slavering like a pack of lions going, “Oooo, ooo, look at those gazelles at the watering hole!”
I laughed so hard when I read about the Conn Smythe bonus. Poor Captain Serious probably feels bad about it.
In Dinglebarn We Trust
What works in the favour of the Hawks: No 35 and over contracts with NTCs. Those screw up your cap really badly because they can’t be bought out (or forced into retirement) w/o their cap hit going as well.
Cheers, Complaints, homerism and bashing of mediocre pop musicians in 140 Characters
"DO NOT get stuck behind Kyle Wellwood in the buffet line. This isn't really etiquette, but it will prevent you from starving to death"- Down Goes Brown on Etiquette for Jason Spezza's wedding
by Kevin Sellathamby on Jun 11, 2010 3:22 PM PDT reply actions
Fantastic article.
Really, well done. Im favouriting this, Google Chrome will be pleased.
"But yeah…like CC…I harbour no ill will." - VancityDan
by Chuckles Canuckles on Jun 12, 2010 3:29 AM PDT reply actions
Hammer is an offer sheet target
$1.2m is WAY below his market value. I’d say $2.75 – $3m is about right.
Unless he’s willing to take that drastic of a HTD, I hope the Sharks throw that at him.
Take him out and fill in w/ an AHL dman in the top 4 (or Hendry) and the Hawks take a huge hit.
And there's Niemi, too
I wonder if $3 mil might be a little low for him, considering that he’s a starting goalie with a Cup now. Over at Fear the Fin, they’re talking about $4-4.5 mil for Pavelski, who also had a breakout year for a team that went deep in the playoffs.
Maybe $3.5-4 mil for Niemi? After all, his agent can always use Huet as a comparable, and also as a threat (i.e., you sign my guy, or you’re stuck with him again).
And there's the fact that he's now famous in Chicago
…which he doesn’t like, because he’s Finnish.
In Dinglebarn We Trust
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