UPDATED Who’s Vulnerable? (a.k.a. Cap Idiots Chart #2)
[UPDATE TO THE UPDATE: if you navigated here from a link not on this site, go instead to the corrected, updated chart here]
Just a few quick observations before sleep. Since last time, the Kings and Colorado were big movers. The Kings dropped into the gray zone. Colorado went from bad to gray. With the Kings dropping down, the number of buyers is reduced by one.
Meanwhile, in the orange and red zones, everyone’s making their situations worse by varying degrees. Well, not everyone; Washington and Pittsburgh are standing pat. San Jose has shrunk its wiggle room down to unworkable levels. And Chicago has joined Philly in the joyous red zone.
For the hell of it, I granted the Rangers honorary orange status, because any team that must average $1.3MM per player and has THIRTEEN players left to sign, is screwed even though it’s not Chicago or Philly screwed yet. They’ll get there.
“CAP#” = current cap hit
“SGND” = players signed
“C-Sp” = Cap space
“cush” = cap space w/ 10% cushion
“perP” = cap space per player left to sign
“LTS” = number of players left to sign to get to a 24 roster.
SI.com, Jim Kelley: NHL salary cap forces Calgary Flames to play shorthanded
The Flames have been playing shorthanded for several games, including a crucial loss earlier this week to the surging Canucks that may have decided first place in the Northwest Division. Now, there are a number of reasons why that can happen. Penalties incurred during a contest is the one that comes most readily to mind, but there can be injuries or a called-up player not getting to the arena on time.
The Flames are shorthanded simply because they are out of money.
Well, not technically out of money, but hard against the $56.7 million salary cap. They have played their last three outings with 17 players, three short of the allowable 20, because several high-profile and well-paid individuals are on their injury list. The problem is that there’s no room under the cap to add replacements.
Placing blame for that is tricky. Pundits who declared Calgary all-in winners after their trade deadline acquisitions of Olli Jokinen and Jordan Leopold not only missed badly in their prediction that the Flames would be greatly improved, they failed to point out that GM Darryl Sutter didn’t send nearly enough money out the door to balance the new cash obligations that were coming in. So when a slew of players including top-four defensemen Cory Sarich and Robyn Regehr were out of the lineup with nine-regular season games remaining, Sutter had a Hank Paulson-like problem on his hands.
At that late a point in the season, NHL rules forbid teams to put players on the long-term injured list (otherwise a handy escape valve for cap relief because their salaries do not count against it). That meant Sarich and Regehr became toxic assets. The Flames had at least five other injured players on the books, so they were forced to play a game that would likely decide the division crown (and third place in the Western Conference) without a full roster. That will likely be the case later this week when they close their season with a home-and-home series vs. Edmonton.
Sutter has argued that this is not a cap issue, but an injury problem. It’s a valid point. Teams have played under the roster limit in the past, most often because of injuries. Yet the Flames are open to the complaint that by mismanaging their cap and playing short they can more easily surrender points they might have won — points that could impact a team that is trying to get into or stay in playoff contention. And some folks won’t be surprised if the Flames use their current predicament to lobby later for getting that nine-games rule removed.
via NHL salary cap forces Calgary Flames to play shorthanded – Jim Kelley – SI.com.
See also: Tom Benjamin: Calgary out of $$ and Kukla’s Corner WTF Calgary!
Tom Benjamin: Calgary is Out of (cap) Money
Problem is, because they were right against the $56.7-million (U.S.) salary cap, they needed to ship Dustin Boyd and Warren Peters to the minors to make the numbers work.
Accordingly, the Flames went with only 10 forwards playing their second game in two nights — with predictable results…
“That’s part of the cap rules and the system we’re playing in today,” Keenan said. “As a coach, you could never agree with it, but that’s what it is and we’re all aware of it and we’re preparing to deal with [it].”
What exactly is the “it”? The cap rules or Daryl Sutter’s failure to manage them correctly? I’d like to see somebody in the media brace Sutter on this issue. How could this happen? Was he asleep at the switch? Or did he take a reasonable gamble at the trade deadline, a gamble he lost? I thought Sutter was wrong to trade for Jokinen even before this fiasco unfolded. I think it was more wrong today because I think making sure the team has enough money to ice a full team is a fundamental for any GM.
Given that the Flames had a 12 point lead at the deadline, it has to be on Sutter’s head if the Flames lose the division. If they don’t, it merely looks bush league.
Kukla’s Korner: WTF? Calgary can’t afford to dress a full roster?
One story that has not been adequately reported is the fact that the Calgary Flames, a team in a tight race for the Northwest Division, has been playing games with less than a full roster. The problem is that they have so little salary cap room that they have not been able to afford to dress a full lineup. Three defencemen, Robyn Regehr, Adrian Aucoin and Cory Sarich all suffered injuries, but none are serious enough to go on the long-term disabled list (especially given the fact this would keep them out of the beginning games of the Stanley Cup playoffs). The Calgary Flames have played their last three games with less than a full roster. They played last Friday’s game against Minnesota with only 16 skaters (instead of 18) and predictably lost 4-0. They played Monday and Tuesday’s games, against Los Angeles and Vancouver respectively, with 17 skaters. Amazingly they defeated Los Angeles 4-1, but lost to Vancouver also by a 4-1 score.
Dustin Boyd currently in the minors for salary cap reasons. Boyd has been a solid forward for the Flames with 22 points so far this season. He is somebody who can be sent to the minors without worrying about waivers, so he is their salary cap sacrifice. He is the final player the Flames would like to have in their line-up to dress a full roster.
Calgary has other players who are not playing with the team for salary cap reasons. Anders Eriksson has been in the minors all season. Rhett Warrener has been on the long term disabled list all season and Wayne Primeau has been there since December. They managed to ship Marcus Nilson off to the KHL to play with Yaroslavl Lokomotiv to get his contract off their books. Despite all these moves, Calgary still does not have salary cap space to dress a full roster. GM Darryl Sutter should take a lot of blame for that. His team is in a tight race for their division lead and due to his mistakes, they cannot even dress a full roster.
Amazingly, the mainstream media has been silent about this. There is no story on tsn.ca about this. The NHL is doing its best to hide the story. The only mainstream media story on the issue that I can find is from the Globe and Mail. As a result, this story has not received the attention it deserves from the blogosphere (although Tom Benjamin and Five Hole Fanaticsdo give it a go).
Isn’t the story of a team fighting for the division lead but forced to do so with less than a full roster important? Is the fact the NHL is getting less than a best effort from the Calgary Flames in this important time due to some arbitrary salary rules an embarrassment that they want to cover up? Calgary has not dressed a full roster in some important games and very few people have even noticed.
KuklasKorner : The Puck Stops Here : Calgary’s Salary Cap Management .
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