National Post (National Edition)
NHL TRADE DEADLINE SHAPING UP AS DUD
CAP CRUNCH MIGHT CRUSH CONTENDERS' HOPES TO FORTIFY LINEUPS
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 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 or Foligno or Savard in a trade. But it's another to actually have the cap space required to add that player into 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 of 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 why 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 get creative and move a contract out for the one you they are taking 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 also 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. For Toronto to do a similar deal, it would likely mean losing someone like third-line centre Alex Kerfoot, who carries a $3.5-million cap hit.
In some ways, this is counterproductive.
Teams are looking to add more depth — not subtract from it — for the playoffs. For that reason, you'd much rather part with draft picks and prospects than actual roster players.
It's not about whether you think a player like Foligno can help your team. It's a matter of whether you think he can help you more than the player you might have to give up in order to get him. In an ideal world, a team such as Toronto would rather have Kerfoot and Foligno — not Kerfoot or Foligno, especially in a season where teams are a positive COVID-19 test away from losing a player for a period of time.
“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 that that 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 got me?”