This is true and nobody would debate it. The purpose of my original post was to point out that, in my opinion, we are NOT managing our cap pretty much perfectly. Having the highest paid goalie on top of the highest paid defense, preventing us from upgrading an offense that crashed and burned when it mattered most, is not good cap management. We could not even afford to give a former first round pick a bridge deal. I cant recall the last time that happened. We'd all love for the cap to be higher, and it should be, but focus should be spent on working with the cap that is currently in place. And right now (in my opinion), the front office is not being creative enough to manage it. But we shall see if more moves are coming, training camp is still two months away.
They have had four straight seasons of deep playoffs runs. A cup final appearance and two ECF appearances. The past is the past but in recent years management has done the best it can. You can bring another forward in here and how do you guarantee he's going to light it up in the playoffs?
if GM's are willing to give out those large contracts that "restrict" them, then that's the effect they have to live with when others have to be traded to have a full team. And as long as these top players stay in the NHL the league as a whole won't be affected. Once these players start leaving to other leagues you can begin to say it's affecting the league.
To me the one move you can question is signing Staal long term after you already had Girardi, Klein, and McD locked up long term. I won't even mention Hank, but the D thing is the issue. Staal should not have been resigned based on the dmen we already had signed long term. And for the record, I am not saying we have manged our cap perfectly, I am saying even if a team does they are still F'd after a few years because the NHL cap is ridiculous.
NBA cap and the NHL cap are essentially the same number this year. NBA has a max 15 man roster. The NHL has a minimum 20 man roster. The NBA allows you to go over the cap to resign your own players (Bird rights). The NHL is a rock hard cap. The NBA allows you an exception every season so you can actually try and improve your team. The NHL is a rock hard cap. The NBA allows you to sign players over the cap for the vet minimum. The NHL is a rock hard cap. The NBA has a big luxury tax for teams that go over the cap. The NBA has a huge luxury tax for teams that go over the cap consecutive years. Not saying the NBA cap is the model, but the NHL needs to loosen up a little to allow teams to try and keep more of their core together, at least RFA's. Put a stiff tax in over certain % above the cap. Do something, because it is crazy right now IMO. Cap barely goes up, 71 mill for at least 20 players. Way too low.
ran into this website. not sure how accurate it is but shows us as 5th in Cap for defenseman and 2nd for Cap for Goalies while 26th in Cap for Forwards. That's Sather's doing, no one else's. http://www.spotrac.com/nhl/cap/
What top 6 W are even available that we are hypothetically trading for? Seems you'd be robbing Peter to pay Paul by trading an important player like Yandle and then losing offense on the backend. Whether they keep him next year or not he's too good a bargain plus a part they haven't had, to get rid of imo.
I like Yandle, but he is slated to be our 3rd pair L dman. That's the reality of it. On top of that do you resign him long term at over 5 mill per? SO we have Staal AND G AND Yandle AND McD all at 4.7 mill or more per long term? If we are being honest that simply does not make sense. And I agree 31...the Staal deal is the one that hurts now IMO. Should have been Staal OR Girardi long term, not both. To me that is pretty clear now.
what top 6 wingers are "available" doesn't matter, because trades lots of trades happen where we (fans) had no idea were in the works and those players were available.
We're spending only about 1m more on forwards than Phoenix is? Yikes. I know that's not how you should judge the quality of a team's unit, but it's still disconcerting. I guess we don't have THE most expensive D like I had previously heard, but we're certainly up there. Only about a mil behind the leader (congrats Subban and your ridiculous 9m hit, you bring the trophy home to MTL). And regarding the "who's available"discussion, I would have been perfectly find trading Klein at the draft for picks, then signing a guy like Williams on that very friendly deal he signed in Wash. But we didnt have the space to even be in the discussion. And he'd be as close to a playoff guarantee as you'd be able to find. Again, it doesnt have to be a bona fide superstar. Like I said previously, Boyes and Semin are both out there who are right shots and could be a fit if we had even a sliver of space. But we dont, and a large part of that is the imbalance shown in those numbers 31 posted. Let's hope they figure out a way to make this team a little more balanced.
People are too obsessed with what the defense are making. The cap hits aren't that bad. As much as we love him we know the cap hit that's making things tougher and that's Hanks. He's just over a millon more than #2 Bobrovsky and 1.5 million more than #3 Rask. Another million to spend out of that position and a trade of a say a Klein and you would have the flexibility of adding another damn good forward.
I actually expect better out of them next season. Mcdonagh had his head up his ass for the majority of last year. When you consider the ice time he gets that wasn't good.
Staal blows, doubtful another team would have been so generous to Marc if the Rangers let him test free agency waters. Staal has 131 points in 540 games and zero physical presence with a 6'4" willowy 207 pound frame that abhors contact. While the ranking of cap towards forwards is certainly influenced by the youth infusion last year the irony is that AV's system demands that the forwards get back and aggressively play defense so not only do the defenders get all the money, they get a higher ranking thanks to the help from the forwards. I still think AV should move Stepan to RW unless he busts his ass in the offseason to improve on faceoffs - 44% doesn't cut it on a top line. I think Diaz will be sent down to take Hunwick's role as an injury fill-in and Klein/Yandle both stay. The Rangers can't worry about losing guys next year when the focus should be winning the Cup this upcoming year, Hank and his deservedly earned money are getting older.
I disagree Mess. YES the individual cap hits are fine for the dmen, that is not the issue IMO. The issue is we have too many locked up for bigger money long term. Just because their AAV's are all good doesn't mean it is good to have all of them signed for a long time with bigger cap hits. It should have been Staal OR Girardi not both. Not with Klein locked up, and McD locked up, and Skjei coming up, and McIlrath needing to at least get a chance, and now you add in Yandle (who is the 3rd LD because of Staal being here) and it is too much. Once we locked up Girardi we never should have locked up Staal long term. To me that was the one cap mistake we have made based on the rest of the roster we have, and the balance we need upfront.
Staal does not blow. Yet, I do think the defense is overrated around the league. They make a lot of turnovers for the credit they get. It was dumb of them to give Girardi and Staal NTC's. No reason to give any player that unless it's Hank. If you don't want to play in MSG without, too bad. They'll find a new home for you. However, I do think a lot of players will waive their NTC if they are told they team wants to get rid of them. A lot of our fans don't realize this team is quietly rebuilding. Last year they played three rookies in Fast, Miller and Hayes. This year you could very well make the case they will play two in McIlrath and Lindberg and a kid who is really like a rookie in Etem. Next year it will be Skjei. So basically, you are talking about 7 young kids added to a team. Maybe 8 if you count Buchnevich. That could be called a quiet rebuild. Though, I'll believe them not screwing over Lindberg and McIlrath when I see it because Av has this stupid love affair with Glass and Boyle.
I agree 31 you don't often hear about trades until they happen, i'm just curious as to what names we'd legitimately look at and could possibly be dealt by current teams. And as for Yandle Chuck, it dosen't matter where he slots on D it's about what he brings that the others can't. He's arguably the most talented blueliner they have as McDonagh has flatlined and just dosen't have those offensive gifts 93 does.
McDonaugh had two bad shoulder injuries that I'm sure took a toll. I expect a solid bounce back from him this coming season.
