SALARY CAP MAY MAKE FOR DULL TRADE DEADLINE
Contenders hoping to bolster their lineups will have difficulty acquiring big names
Ranked just below Nashville's Mattias Ekholm and ahead of
St. Louis' Vince Dunn on TSN'S “Trade Bait” board is the one thing that all Stanley Cup contenders are looking for at this year's trade deadline.
No, it's not a goal-scoring winger or a heart-and-soul veteran who plays with grit and determination. Nor is it someone who has the versatility of being able to kill penalties and move up and down in the lineup as needed.
Forget about Taylor Hall or Nick Foligno or David Savard. Forget about players, in general.
The 12th-ranked item on TSN'S list was “Chicago's Cap Space.” Ask any GM and they will tell you that it should be ranked a lot higher. That's how valuable cap space has become this year.
After all, it's one thing to have the assets required to acquire a rental player such as Hall, Foligno or Savard in a trade. But it's another to actually have the cap space required to add that player to the lineup.
“The cap is the obvious thing this year,” said former Pittsburgh Penguins GM Jim Rutherford, who will be part of TSN'S trade deadline panel on Monday. “Being a GM in the NHL is hard enough. But this could be the toughest year because the cap isn't going up. That's going to play a part for a few years. It's so difficult to make a move.”
The salary cap remaining flat from last season to this year is part of the reason we haven't seen a lot of movement so far this year. And with all signs pointing to the cap remaining at US$81.5 million for next season, it's looking like Monday's trade deadline could be a giant dud. Ten playoff-bound teams, including Edmonton, Tampa Bay, Washington and Winnipeg, have zero cap space. Six other contenders — Colorado, Minnesota, Montreal, Pittsburgh, Toronto and Vegas — have less than $1 million available.
That doesn't leave much wiggle room to add any new players. That is, unless a team is willing to get creative and move a contract out for the one they take back.
We saw some of that in Thursday's five-player trade between Florida and Chicago, which was really nothing more than the Panthers dumping salary ahead of the deadline. In exchange for taking on the remaining three years of Brett Connolly's $3.5-million cap hit, the Blackhawks received the contractual rights to top European prospect Henrik Borgstrom. Consider it the price of doing business in a year where every GM is searching the couch cushions for any loose change they can find.
With the money saved, Florida now has even more cap space to go after a player such as Hall or Savard.
Or you can do what Toronto did on Friday and trade for a player who is already injured.
It's a bit complicated, but here's how it works: the Leafs traded a seventh-round pick to Columbus for forward Riley Nash, who is currently out with a sprained knee. Nash, who has a cap hit of $2.75 million, is then placed on the long-term injured reserve. The Leafs then could do the same for Frederik Andersen ($5 million).
According to puckpedia.com, this would allow the Leafs to exceed the salary cap by $7.25 million. That is, as long as both players are out for the rest of the regular season.
For Toronto, the cap flexibility means they now have the space to add another player at the deadline, whether it's Foligno ($5.5 million) or Hall ($8 million), without also having to part ways with someone off their own roster, such as third-line centre Alex Kerfoot ($3.5 million).
In some ways, doing so would have been counterproductive.
“We've seen this all year,” said Rutherford. “Having depth is so important. Having it at any time is good. But again, at what price? And can you fit the player into the cap? Even teams at the top of the league now, they may decide to stick with what they have, because it's such a unique year.”
The teams that do want to add will have to get creative or find a trading partner with deep pockets.
We saw some of that earlier this week, when the New York Islanders acquired Travis Zajac and Kyle Palmieri from the New Jersey Devils in exchange for a first-round pick and a couple of prospects. To some, the price seemed high. But when you consider that the Devils retained half of Zajac's and Palmieri's salary, it made perfect sense.
In other words, maybe the teams we should be watching this weekend are not necessarily the buyers or sellers, but the ones that have the cap space required to facilitate a deal.
Get your calculators ready. Dissecting a trade could come down to dollars and cents — not goals and assists.
That is, if GMS can figure out how to make the salaries match.
“They must think it's going to be quiet,” Rutherford jokingly said of why TSN hired him for Monday's trade deadline coverage. “Otherwise, why did they get me?”
Having depth is so important. Having it at any time is good.
But again, at what price?
And can you fit the player into the cap?