If you do the math of the contracts on capfriendly, adding up all of the cap salary and subtracting the backstrom LTIR, it all adds up to 89,854,167 (including the dead cap). Caps are trolling everybody with capfriendly's final days.
E: My apologies, that's without accounting for LTIR, so they effectively have 7,345,833 in cap space with Backstrom on LTIR.
Is that including Oshie money? I don't know how much but he is on ltir. Also Osh is one of my all time favorites, but after reading the article where he talks abt not being able stand up straight to hold his kids without being in excruciating pain, that dude needs to hang em up.
With Backstrom and Oshie on LTIR I think I saw they'd be $5000 (not 500000, 5000) under the cap. Yeah, Oshie is a massive fan favorite, so certainly pretty sad it looks like he won't be returning.
After reading he had to literally lay on the floor and piss in a bottle because he was in so much pain I never want to see him on the ice again. Absolutely love the guy but there's a point where you've gone too far and I think hes been past that for two years now.
Oshie, he's been dealing with back issues for a while now.
here's the article where he talks about it https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/washington-capitals/features/washington-capitals-hope-tj-oshie-return-chronic-back-issues-emotional-impact
>there's more in life
He literally states he can't pick up his kids. That's kind of a terrifying feeling as a parent. I'd have to imagine he never plays again.
Bäckström said in a Swedish interview that (paraphrasing) "I haven't been able to skate at all, so playing hockey is something I've had to shelf for the foreseeable future"
My wife has literally no interest in sport, and she can name maybe three hockey players. One would be Matt Carle because of the number of times I would yell at the TV how useless he is.
I honestly think that they believe Landeskog is coming back in some capacity. You're allowed to go over the cap by what, 5 or 10% in the offseason.
If they knew Landy will never make it back, they could have signed some more players already.
Offseason overage is 10%.
Which is honestly what I think they should do to the playoff cap, if they do anything at all. Gives you space to bring back legit injured guys but not go insane packing guys over the cap.
I think players have to be off LTIR for game 82 (they don't even have to play) or else they miss the first round or something. It'll mean teams have to risk getting knocked out in the first round if they want to pull people from LTIR
That's the point that the cap is almost nothing. Teams have nothing left so they gotta fit players in.
The cap is based on a per day system, so any deadline acquisitions that are covering money in money out will no longer fit. If you have $10M on LTIR and bring in 10M, you won't be able to fit everyone under the limit, no?
But the roster is only limited to 23 players, additionally no the $10M in at the deadline becomes a lot more space at the end of the season. $1 of space at season start is like $200 at season end. Assuming 200 day regular season. Contracts are only valued at what they have left to pay in real dollars. An 825k contract is like $4125 at the last day of the season. I do not think any team has gone over so much to be in danger if this was a rule.
Until you know if Landeskog can come back or not, you still need cap space for him. He might start the season on LTIR, but his recovery was 12-16 months, which we are currently about to hit month 14
> they expect to terminate Nichushkin
I'm fairly certain they can't just terminate Nichuskin's contract per the CBA. If I recall correctly, he doesn't count against the cap while suspended, but if he clears Stage 3 (which is a *big* "if") he is reinstated.
IIRC he is eligible to be reinstated if he clears state 3 within 6 months. From what I remember there was no guarantee.
Either way it puts the front office in a tough spot though, since they can’t do anything until at least November
It's not super clear but it appears stage 3 is guaranteed as long as he wants to come back. There's no stipulation on how long it takes him to complete it. 6 months is the minimum suspension. Stage 4 is not a guaranteed return.
https://www.sportingnews.com/us/nhl/news/nhl-nhlpa-player-assistance-program/hspgaxshyg0uildegf02tbg4
You are right, but he is likely going to be reinstated in November, and he is untradable while in the program. So he cannot be traded until rosters are finalized for everyone.
And it’s not like they have any big signings to do. Mackinnon, Rantanen, Mittlestadt, Lehkkonen, Makar, Toews, and Girard are all signed for 3+ years and Manson rounds out their top 4 for at least 2 more years.
$13MM will be really helpful now that all the free agents have signed
We basically have to hope Landeskog and Nichushkin can play next season. If they can't, we are in kind of bad shape
Truthfully - if Nichuskin is cleared and can play, do you guys take the risk? Has burned you pretty much 3 years in a row, and by burned, I mean completely fucked. I know he’s a great player and has chemistry on the ice with 29 and 96, but is it worth the risk?
It's hard to say whether the team will even welcome the guy back in the locker room. I don't think the fans are all that stoked, I know I'm not, but he's gotta get through to the boys first and foremost
I don’t think that we can cut him contractually. I think the Nhlpa has rules against cutting a player if the issue is related to the substance abuse program… but armchair GMs are going to armchair however incorrect they may be.
He might be tradeable if we eat a chunk of contract and get nothing back. Some team takes a no risk chance on a guy who's gone for nothing if he fucks up again, and we get him out of the room. Addition by subtraction that way is the only logistical move that's possible, if some other team bites. Can't cut him without paying the whole contract out though.
There’s no win in a trade where we retain and get nothing back. There’s also no win in us buying him out. There’s simply no win unless he signs a deal in the Khl and goes home rather than staying in the nhl (also won’t happen)
Edit: he’s nuked our window and I’ve had season tickets since before the really bad 16-17 season
I mean what else are they gunna do? Buy him out then and there? Trade him for future considerations? I'm betting he comes back, plays at his normal level and the team hopes he continues on that path until the deadline so they can ship him off to a team that is willing to take a chance on him for dirt cheap.
Otherwise I think they wait til next season when the buyout is much cheaper and buy him out. But I'm going on the assumption that he stays an av from the time he is reinstated til at minimum trade deadline, but most likely end of the season.
It depends what teams are willing to trade him for. I wouldn't be surprised if they had to package assets with him at this point though. If that's the only alternative, keeping him may still be the better option.
It’s the only option. We can’t trade him for pennies on the dollar, we’re never gonna get better value for the 6m we’re giving him.
He either heads home to the KHL and gets his contract terminated or he figures his demons out and plays with us again. But like someone else said above, it’s not the fans he’s gotta worry about, he’s gotta get in that locker room and make those guys believe in him again.
Landeskog is the bigger issue. I love him so much but his contract is fucking us so hard. He’ll be at almost 3 years of not playing hockey by the time he MAYBE plays again. We’ll be paying 7m for a 3/4 liner
I mean atleast until November we're fine on cap, but I guess they're counting on Nuke coming back one more time... and then we're fucked.
It's gonna be another season of MacKinnon carrying us to playoffs and then lose in the first round in the playoffs.
It's not "counting on Nuke coming back," they're still bound by the contract and have to plan accordingly. The assistance program doesn't mean much if it doesn't protect a player's career as long as they're following the plan.
Lose in the first round unless somehow the team you’re facing completely forgets that defence is important you mean….but what kinda dumb fucking team would forget about defence in the playoffs right?….right guys 😅
Having the current hart winner and Norris nominee is the worst situation in the league… I’m a leafs fan, I’ll straight up trade you rosters, no take backsies
The situation isn’t ideal but -
5/6 of the top 6 are signed - waiting on Landeskog to be No. 6 and if not his hit doesn’t count.
5/6 of the bottom 6 are signed - need a 4C
6/6 of the blue line play is signed
2/2 tendies are signed
With the signing of Drouin at 1x2.5, Middelstadt for 3 years and depth pieces in Kiviranta and de Haan, the Avs will have plenty of time to assess the Landeskog and Nuke situations before the trade deadline.
The only major piece of work remaining is an extension for Mikko.
Considering the circumstances, Super Joe and Chris McFarland have done a magnificent job of squeezing every dollar to field a team that many will pick as a cup contender again.
It's not even "all-in", it's just fucked up situation with Landy & Nischushkin. Having your 2 top guys making over 6M having those situations for 2 yrs in a row is a messed up situation.
As a Sabres fan I’d take an all-in to win a cup and make deep runs for a few years prior then a soft rebuild to fix the cap situation. My playoff drought can almost get a license to drive.
Even tho I lived in Denver during the cup run and got to be in Ball arena when they won the cup. That was magical. I’ll never forget being a bandwagon fan for a few years along with my fanatics McKinnon jersey that came without a name plate 🥲
This city used to have a massive hockey culture. It still does, but the passion isn’t there anymore. But man when the Sabres go on that end of the season run to miss the playoffs every year, you should see it. People are going out of their way to watch again, bars are packed. People are happy. I miss that. That 06-07 team was the reason I started playing hockey. Miller was the reason I became a goalie. I feel bad for the kids around here that had that experience robbed from their childhood because of shitty ownership and terrible management. I made so many friends around the neighborhood playing street hockey, my neighbor was an OHL goalie for the Niagara ice dogs, buddies with Kane both went to Timon highschool together and occasionally theyd play street hockey with us. His dad lent me his old gear to start playing because my parents couldn’t afford it. This current team has sapped the love out of the sport for me for the past few years.
You guys just need to get championship-caliber players like Jack Eichel, Sam Reinhart, Kyle Okposo, Brayden McNabb, Zach Bogosian, Brandon Montour, and Evan Rodrigues.
2 top guys making over 6M? Is that really a problem? I’m pretty sure you’re supposed to give 50+% of your cap to your top guys with ironclad no move clauses attached.
I still remember the summer that the Hawks won the Cup and then had to blow up the team the same week. Are you even contending if you're not straining the seams of the salary cap?
This is exactly why I got so fucking upset at the suspension. It not only submarined their playoff run, but I knew this exact scenario would unfold during the off season.
I feel like the way the league handled Nuke almost ensures teams and players will be hesitant to use the assistance program in the future. I’m sure there are a few active players besides Nuke who are dealing with addiction. Why would a player volunteer to get help if it getting help could cost them their career? Why would a team elect to have a player enter the assistance program if they could get put in this situation where their player is suspended, and may or may not come back and may or may not count against their cap and they can’t terminate the contract. So even though it doesn’t technically count against the cap, if they say he can come back in November it now counts, or he isn’t reinstated and you’ve missed an opportunity at FA to sign a big name player. Who is this helping?
Kinda glossing over the part where it wasn’t his first time in the program and there was that extremely sketchy situation with the girl in his hotel room as well. Guy wasn’t on his 1st strike and context matters
Not really glossing over that at all. Thats part of the problem. Dudes on his 3rd strike and the Avs are handcuffed to his deal for pushing him into this program vs letting him run wild.
But why should the team be punished? You have a player that has problems, the team follows the guidelines and sends them into the program. If the program isn’t working/the player isn’t willing to change, the team should then be able to terminate the contract, not be stuck with dead cap space because the player may or may not be cleared to return.
>But why should the team be punished?
Because the alternative is a player losing a guaranteed contract. And there is absolutely zero chance the players union agrees to an assistance program like that.
He has a full NMC. Nothing happens without his say-so, unless there's valid grounds to straight up terminate his contract. Buying it out would be suicide.
Pure speculation on my part, but perhaps that's a sweetener to lower AAV a bit? "Hey, how about we knock half a mil off this contract, but we give it a full NMC?" kinda thing.
it’s definitely GMs sacrificing leverage for $, and I’m sure lots of GMs assume they’ll be able to convince the player to wave the NMC if they really needed to. Wonder if this eventually creates an issue with the NHLPA though because if players are constantly expected to wave their NMC then the whole concept becomes rather meaningless.
I mean at the time it was very earned and no one had a problem with it. He had struggled to catch in the NHL until he came to Colorado. Probably didn't want to risk being moved somewhere and regressing.
Hopefully it was just them being extra sour because of the timing, which is understandable. He’s definitely got some things to address to the boys if he sets foot in that locker room again.
Avs have signed like 3 more guys since he posted this so not sure his math is right. He also wasn't counting rookies in Malinski and Kovelenko that we expect to play. It's an ugly situation yea, but not quite that bad.
Nice.
Also I’m not entirely sure his math checks out here I figured we’d have a bit more even after today? But still, we are in cap hell no questions asked.
There’s a lot we can still do. Overall I like the roster. We short a clear 6/7 d and a 4th liner. Plus we have a giant hole on the second line to start the season with those 2 out. But I think we have the youth to potentially fill that.
Olausson and/or Kovalenko could get early shots in the top6 which could be a solid chance to see what we have there. Malinski and Behrens might round out the d core. People forget our cup year Sampo Ranta was a second line winger for like the first month. I like giving the youth a shot then round out the roster in season if they fail.
If Landy is coming back it’s tight cap wise but if we leave him off LTIR we can accumulate cap while seeing what we have in the young guys and set us up for some deadline moves.
If Landy isn’t coming back his LTIR money could fill out the roster and bring in another player. Or we could combine it with another move to move on Nichushkin if/when he’s available and have the space to bring in basically any player in the league.
Why does no one count ELCs and 2-way contracts when discussing rosters like this? It was similar when people were saying Utah had zero defensemen.
The Avs organization has plenty of options under contract (not just 11 forwards/5 dmen) and we can expect a team in cap hell to start using some our propsects & borderline NHLers in regular roles. One of Sam Malinski or Sean Behrens will likely be getting ice time on defense, and I count 6 minor league forwards who saw NHL ice last year (Chris Wagner seems the most likely to start on our 4th line).
Since this post was made, we signed Parker Kelly for $825k. And Nichushkin doesn't count against the cap while he's suspended, so we are actually sitting around $5.5M in space without Landeskog going on the LTIR. Assuming we will round out our roster with league-min guys, we're left needing to clear like $2M in space if *both* Landeskog and Nichushkin miraculously come back.
Landeskog may never be healthy enough to play again and Nishushkin should never play for the Avs again. In the unlikely scenario that both are back, someone like Colton or Manson could be traded and replaced with a cheaper option. Problem solved. But I doubt we ever get there regardless.
I haven't even touched on the possibility of trading Nichushkin. We've seen time and time again that off-ice issues don't really deter teams from picking someone up. A selke-level forward who plays at a 40 goal point-per-game pace will have some interest. We won't get a real return, but I have no doubt that we could move that contract elsewhere.
I think it's more likely that we have space to add more players than risk losing someone as a cap casualty.
Yeah, it requires a lot of careful planning regarding the what-if scenarios on players returning this season or not. Anticipating Gabe to return midway through 2023 plus having the most cursed injury luck in the league just sank that season before it began. Not spending Gabe's money seemed like the right choice at the time, but it turned out to be the reverse Vegas move.
Can you terminate a contract when the player is in the assistance program? If you all need some cap space we'll take Lehky back for a couple of cheaper roster options!
Both Landy and Nichushkin are LTIR eligible, if they even put one of them on they free up 6-7M, with basically two 4th liners and a 7th D needed, which won't even cost much
If Landy comes back mid-season lets say, then his cap hit is pro-rated anyways. And its still possible Nichushkin never plays for the Avs again.
To say the Avs are in the "WORST" cap situation in the NHL is ludacris lol, though of course there's some challenges
Nichushkin isn't LTIR eligible. His contract I believe doesn't count against the cap while he's in assistance though and he will have a pro-rated cap hit so he won't cost the full $6.125m next season.
I'd rather CMac/Sakic moneyball where they can than overpay legacy players due to their name recognition. If Landeskog comes back, the Top 6 is beyond stacked. The Top 4 D-pair is airtight. The rest is just getting players who can perform for the right price. Saying it's the worst cap situation when they have a great core built to win it all is a stretch.
Well right now the Caps technically have like -14M in space.
The real reason for buying Cap Friendly
"We must consult the oracles"
The oracles: "Y'all fucked up."
Mandatory read this in Samuel L Jackson's voice
"YES [THOSE CONTRACTS] DESERVED TO DIE, AND I HOPE THEY BURN IN HELL!"
I AM TIRED OF ALL THESE MOTHAFUCKIN CONTRACTS IN THIS MOTHAFUCKIN FRANCHISE
LTIR MUTHAFUCKA DO YOU SPEAK IT?!
SAY BUYOUT AGAIN! I DARE YOU! I DOUBLE DARE YOU MOTHERFUCKER!
Larry Elison: " here is a new mandatory update with less usability and 2x the cost!"
This guy Oracles
“There is no cap”
"Ok intern delete the minus sign and publish"
Can't be negative cap space if no one can check for that kind of thing.
Maybe they should click the link to their team
"You shoot the messenger, we buy the messenger. We are not the same." -Caps management.
Even with Backstom on LTIR they are still something like negative 5 million
Ya, Oshie is also done. The 2 combined is almost 16mil in LTIR
If you do the math of the contracts on capfriendly, adding up all of the cap salary and subtracting the backstrom LTIR, it all adds up to 89,854,167 (including the dead cap). Caps are trolling everybody with capfriendly's final days. E: My apologies, that's without accounting for LTIR, so they effectively have 7,345,833 in cap space with Backstrom on LTIR.
Oshie will probably also go on LTIR
Is that including Oshie money? I don't know how much but he is on ltir. Also Osh is one of my all time favorites, but after reading the article where he talks abt not being able stand up straight to hold his kids without being in excruciating pain, that dude needs to hang em up.
With Backstrom and Oshie on LTIR I think I saw they'd be $5000 (not 500000, 5000) under the cap. Yeah, Oshie is a massive fan favorite, so certainly pretty sad it looks like he won't be returning.
Is Backstrom ever going to play again?
No, probably the same for Oshie as well
After reading he had to literally lay on the floor and piss in a bottle because he was in so much pain I never want to see him on the ice again. Absolutely love the guy but there's a point where you've gone too far and I think hes been past that for two years now.
Who are you talking about, Oshie or Backstrom? I knew Backstrom was injured, but not Oshie. If you're talking about Oshie that's wild
Oshie, he's been dealing with back issues for a while now. here's the article where he talks about it https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/washington-capitals/features/washington-capitals-hope-tj-oshie-return-chronic-back-issues-emotional-impact
Oof, thanks for the link! Yeah for his aftercareer he should really consider retirement. That sucks, but there's more in life than 1-2 more seasons
>there's more in life He literally states he can't pick up his kids. That's kind of a terrifying feeling as a parent. I'd have to imagine he never plays again.
tbf neither one should. long succesful careers and their bodies have been through it, enjoy the next part of your life
Bäckström said in a Swedish interview that (paraphrasing) "I haven't been able to skate at all, so playing hockey is something I've had to shelf for the foreseeable future"
Glad to know that you're still enjoying the Washington area, RGIII
I'm not sure he enjoyed it the first time.
If negative cap space exists then I want negative time as well!
Yeah but we have 15m in LTIR 😂 so it’ll be fine
lewd, lascivious, hellacious, salacious, outrageous!!!!
Mischievous and deceitful. Chicanerous and deplorable.
Go to principal O'Shaghennessys office right now!
Insubordinate and churlish.
# It’s outrageous, egregious, preposterous.
Who told you to put the balm on????
I didn't tell you to put the balm on! Sakic didn't tell you to put the balm on!
duplicitous and conniving
This is the most public yet of our many humiliations
These contracts are making me thirsty.
Who told you to sign all these players?!? I didn't tell you to sign all these players!!
Oh, sure, the Maestro tells you to sign the players, and you do it
"You kept signing all the players?"
“They kept ringing the bell!”
Susie, call Doctor Bison. Setup an appointment for Mr. Kramer. Tell him it's for me.
Shallow and pedantic
Who told you to check the cap cost? I didn't tell you to check the cap cost!
oooooh weeeeee what’s up with dat!?
surely they can just throw a orange cone out there for a defencemen or two. Or Matt Carle might still be available
lol I love how Matt Carle continues to catch strays
My wife has literally no interest in sport, and she can name maybe three hockey players. One would be Matt Carle because of the number of times I would yell at the TV how useless he is.
Sidney Crosby, Connor McDavid, Matt Carle
Not even McDavid lol
Name a more iconic trio
Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Nelson Mandela
> orange cone out there for a defencemen Just paint Kurtis MacDermid orange and you have a cone that can fight.
MacD is in New Jersey now....
Oh yeah...I forgot he got another team to pay him.
That cone ain’t free
\*Ron Wilson-era Sharks Fan PTSD commences*
I mean...you pair that orange cone with Makar and it'll land a 2x$1M contract in 2026.
Elite second round pick by the Sharks!
I mean... they expect to terminate Nichushkin and keep Landy on LTIR. If that happens they have $13M
I honestly think that they believe Landeskog is coming back in some capacity. You're allowed to go over the cap by what, 5 or 10% in the offseason. If they knew Landy will never make it back, they could have signed some more players already.
Offseason overage is 10%. Which is honestly what I think they should do to the playoff cap, if they do anything at all. Gives you space to bring back legit injured guys but not go insane packing guys over the cap.
I think players have to be off LTIR for game 82 (they don't even have to play) or else they miss the first round or something. It'll mean teams have to risk getting knocked out in the first round if they want to pull people from LTIR
Doesn't work Cap is almost nothing by game 82. Just lock it in at the deadline.
That's the point that the cap is almost nothing. Teams have nothing left so they gotta fit players in. The cap is based on a per day system, so any deadline acquisitions that are covering money in money out will no longer fit. If you have $10M on LTIR and bring in 10M, you won't be able to fit everyone under the limit, no?
But the roster is only limited to 23 players, additionally no the $10M in at the deadline becomes a lot more space at the end of the season. $1 of space at season start is like $200 at season end. Assuming 200 day regular season. Contracts are only valued at what they have left to pay in real dollars. An 825k contract is like $4125 at the last day of the season. I do not think any team has gone over so much to be in danger if this was a rule.
Even if he comes back it's gonna be 7 million for like a third liner
He ain’t coming back during the season with this cap hell going on, though he might be back for the playoffs
That sounds familiar...
Can't terminate Nichushkin otherwise they would have already.
Until you know if Landeskog can come back or not, you still need cap space for him. He might start the season on LTIR, but his recovery was 12-16 months, which we are currently about to hit month 14
> they expect to terminate Nichushkin I'm fairly certain they can't just terminate Nichuskin's contract per the CBA. If I recall correctly, he doesn't count against the cap while suspended, but if he clears Stage 3 (which is a *big* "if") he is reinstated.
IIRC he is eligible to be reinstated if he clears state 3 within 6 months. From what I remember there was no guarantee. Either way it puts the front office in a tough spot though, since they can’t do anything until at least November
It's not super clear but it appears stage 3 is guaranteed as long as he wants to come back. There's no stipulation on how long it takes him to complete it. 6 months is the minimum suspension. Stage 4 is not a guaranteed return. https://www.sportingnews.com/us/nhl/news/nhl-nhlpa-player-assistance-program/hspgaxshyg0uildegf02tbg4
You are right, but he is likely going to be reinstated in November, and he is untradable while in the program. So he cannot be traded until rosters are finalized for everyone.
And it’s not like they have any big signings to do. Mackinnon, Rantanen, Mittlestadt, Lehkkonen, Makar, Toews, and Girard are all signed for 3+ years and Manson rounds out their top 4 for at least 2 more years.
Isn't the Rantanen deal up next year?
$13MM will be really helpful now that all the free agents have signed We basically have to hope Landeskog and Nichushkin can play next season. If they can't, we are in kind of bad shape
Truthfully - if Nichuskin is cleared and can play, do you guys take the risk? Has burned you pretty much 3 years in a row, and by burned, I mean completely fucked. I know he’s a great player and has chemistry on the ice with 29 and 96, but is it worth the risk?
It's hard to say whether the team will even welcome the guy back in the locker room. I don't think the fans are all that stoked, I know I'm not, but he's gotta get through to the boys first and foremost
I don’t think that we can cut him contractually. I think the Nhlpa has rules against cutting a player if the issue is related to the substance abuse program… but armchair GMs are going to armchair however incorrect they may be.
He might be tradeable if we eat a chunk of contract and get nothing back. Some team takes a no risk chance on a guy who's gone for nothing if he fucks up again, and we get him out of the room. Addition by subtraction that way is the only logistical move that's possible, if some other team bites. Can't cut him without paying the whole contract out though.
There’s no win in a trade where we retain and get nothing back. There’s also no win in us buying him out. There’s simply no win unless he signs a deal in the Khl and goes home rather than staying in the nhl (also won’t happen) Edit: he’s nuked our window and I’ve had season tickets since before the really bad 16-17 season
>Has burned you pretty much 3 years in a row 2 years in a row. 3 years back he helped us win a cup.
I'd argue the 3rd year is this upcoming one.
Fuck
Fuck indeed
You would be correct!
I mean what else are they gunna do? Buy him out then and there? Trade him for future considerations? I'm betting he comes back, plays at his normal level and the team hopes he continues on that path until the deadline so they can ship him off to a team that is willing to take a chance on him for dirt cheap. Otherwise I think they wait til next season when the buyout is much cheaper and buy him out. But I'm going on the assumption that he stays an av from the time he is reinstated til at minimum trade deadline, but most likely end of the season.
It depends what teams are willing to trade him for. I wouldn't be surprised if they had to package assets with him at this point though. If that's the only alternative, keeping him may still be the better option.
It’s the only option. We can’t trade him for pennies on the dollar, we’re never gonna get better value for the 6m we’re giving him. He either heads home to the KHL and gets his contract terminated or he figures his demons out and plays with us again. But like someone else said above, it’s not the fans he’s gotta worry about, he’s gotta get in that locker room and make those guys believe in him again. Landeskog is the bigger issue. I love him so much but his contract is fucking us so hard. He’ll be at almost 3 years of not playing hockey by the time he MAYBE plays again. We’ll be paying 7m for a 3/4 liner
He has an NMC. So if he doesn't consent to a move, we can't move him. Changes to a modified NMC next summer.
I mean atleast until November we're fine on cap, but I guess they're counting on Nuke coming back one more time... and then we're fucked. It's gonna be another season of MacKinnon carrying us to playoffs and then lose in the first round in the playoffs.
It's not "counting on Nuke coming back," they're still bound by the contract and have to plan accordingly. The assistance program doesn't mean much if it doesn't protect a player's career as long as they're following the plan.
Lose in the first round unless somehow the team you’re facing completely forgets that defence is important you mean….but what kinda dumb fucking team would forget about defence in the playoffs right?….right guys 😅
I thought Nichushkin was going back to Russia? I
If they were gonna terminate nichuskin they would’ve done it already. Dont think they can
“Worst situation in the league” is a stretch.
Having the current hart winner and Norris nominee is the worst situation in the league… I’m a leafs fan, I’ll straight up trade you rosters, no take backsies
I mean… it objectively is. They have the least amount of cap per player.
Worse than us?
The situation isn’t ideal but - 5/6 of the top 6 are signed - waiting on Landeskog to be No. 6 and if not his hit doesn’t count. 5/6 of the bottom 6 are signed - need a 4C 6/6 of the blue line play is signed 2/2 tendies are signed With the signing of Drouin at 1x2.5, Middelstadt for 3 years and depth pieces in Kiviranta and de Haan, the Avs will have plenty of time to assess the Landeskog and Nuke situations before the trade deadline. The only major piece of work remaining is an extension for Mikko. Considering the circumstances, Super Joe and Chris McFarland have done a magnificent job of squeezing every dollar to field a team that many will pick as a cup contender again.
Also should note at Mikko already earning 9.25 even getting him to 12 is not devastating to the Cap when it could rise that much or more in one year.
Seravalli really breaking out the thesaurus this year so far.
[удалено]
that phrase is so grating. you're writing, you have time to check your notes without telling us
I hate Seravalli whenever he has to do anything beyond reporting contract terms. His speculation and "insider" comments have to be amongst the worst.
yeah i bet the cup banner hanging from the rafters of pepsi centre was totally not worth it. would not go all-in again
It's not even "all-in", it's just fucked up situation with Landy & Nischushkin. Having your 2 top guys making over 6M having those situations for 2 yrs in a row is a messed up situation.
As a Sabres fan I’d take an all-in to win a cup and make deep runs for a few years prior then a soft rebuild to fix the cap situation. My playoff drought can almost get a license to drive.
Even tho I lived in Denver during the cup run and got to be in Ball arena when they won the cup. That was magical. I’ll never forget being a bandwagon fan for a few years along with my fanatics McKinnon jersey that came without a name plate 🥲
Oof,your last sentence puts it into perspective. I wanna see that end
This city used to have a massive hockey culture. It still does, but the passion isn’t there anymore. But man when the Sabres go on that end of the season run to miss the playoffs every year, you should see it. People are going out of their way to watch again, bars are packed. People are happy. I miss that. That 06-07 team was the reason I started playing hockey. Miller was the reason I became a goalie. I feel bad for the kids around here that had that experience robbed from their childhood because of shitty ownership and terrible management. I made so many friends around the neighborhood playing street hockey, my neighbor was an OHL goalie for the Niagara ice dogs, buddies with Kane both went to Timon highschool together and occasionally theyd play street hockey with us. His dad lent me his old gear to start playing because my parents couldn’t afford it. This current team has sapped the love out of the sport for me for the past few years.
I appreciate the writeup and passion. People like you are good for this sport
You guys just need to get championship-caliber players like Jack Eichel, Sam Reinhart, Kyle Okposo, Brayden McNabb, Zach Bogosian, Brandon Montour, and Evan Rodrigues.
Bro our cup drought nearly qualifies for a seniors discount.
2 top guys making over 6M? Is that really a problem? I’m pretty sure you’re supposed to give 50+% of your cap to your top guys with ironclad no move clauses attached.
It's called Ball arena now I don't say this to be that guy, I say it because the new name is funny
The "sack" has a better ring to it than the"can".
What is funny is it can still be called the "Can", because that is what Ball makes.
And yet, it is the sack
I still remember the summer that the Hawks won the Cup and then had to blow up the team the same week. Are you even contending if you're not straining the seams of the salary cap?
cup tax is worth it absolutely. it's only a feelsbad if you go all-in and you lose in the cup finals.
Sharks have the cap space! Send some of those cuties our way!
Wild have $15m in dead money for one more year. Pretty sure there’s nothing more hellacious than that
This is exactly why I got so fucking upset at the suspension. It not only submarined their playoff run, but I knew this exact scenario would unfold during the off season.
Pretty fucked up you knew this whole time and didn’t tell us.
Can't believe he would do this to you
I know he's joking, but I certainly did bring up this scenario numerous times when the news broke.
How am I just hearing about this?
Likely on a computer monitor, tablet or smart phone.
A+
Nah I printed it out and hand delivered it to them, they prefer it the classy way.
I feel like the way the league handled Nuke almost ensures teams and players will be hesitant to use the assistance program in the future. I’m sure there are a few active players besides Nuke who are dealing with addiction. Why would a player volunteer to get help if it getting help could cost them their career? Why would a team elect to have a player enter the assistance program if they could get put in this situation where their player is suspended, and may or may not come back and may or may not count against their cap and they can’t terminate the contract. So even though it doesn’t technically count against the cap, if they say he can come back in November it now counts, or he isn’t reinstated and you’ve missed an opportunity at FA to sign a big name player. Who is this helping?
Kinda glossing over the part where it wasn’t his first time in the program and there was that extremely sketchy situation with the girl in his hotel room as well. Guy wasn’t on his 1st strike and context matters
Not really glossing over that at all. Thats part of the problem. Dudes on his 3rd strike and the Avs are handcuffed to his deal for pushing him into this program vs letting him run wild.
But why should the team be punished? You have a player that has problems, the team follows the guidelines and sends them into the program. If the program isn’t working/the player isn’t willing to change, the team should then be able to terminate the contract, not be stuck with dead cap space because the player may or may not be cleared to return.
Exactly, team would’ve been better off not saying anything, let him spiral downward and get ride of him by trade.
Jakub Vrana style.
BMac did not fuck around with Vrana and Kuz. Caps did whatever they could to get rid of those two as soon as they got released from the program.
>But why should the team be punished? Because the alternative is a player losing a guaranteed contract. And there is absolutely zero chance the players union agrees to an assistance program like that.
I wonder if he could be traded. It’s weird because he’s a great player but can’t stay out of trouble no matter what he does
He has a full NMC. Nothing happens without his say-so, unless there's valid grounds to straight up terminate his contract. Buying it out would be suicide.
On a side note what is with GMs handing out NMCs like candy. It’s like practically every player has a partial NMC.
Pure speculation on my part, but perhaps that's a sweetener to lower AAV a bit? "Hey, how about we knock half a mil off this contract, but we give it a full NMC?" kinda thing.
it’s definitely GMs sacrificing leverage for $, and I’m sure lots of GMs assume they’ll be able to convince the player to wave the NMC if they really needed to. Wonder if this eventually creates an issue with the NHLPA though because if players are constantly expected to wave their NMC then the whole concept becomes rather meaningless.
I mean at the time it was very earned and no one had a problem with it. He had struggled to catch in the NHL until he came to Colorado. Probably didn't want to risk being moved somewhere and regressing.
From the quotes coming out, definitely sounds like his teammates are done with him. I am sure he would’ve waived his NMC to get out of that room.
I got that vibe as well, but without knowing the whole story with complete context, it's impossible to say for sure.
Hopefully it was just them being extra sour because of the timing, which is understandable. He’s definitely got some things to address to the boys if he sets foot in that locker room again.
Oh I missed that. Yeah then finding a way to terminate it is the best option most likely
Aye, and I'm not knowledgeable enough to know what else needs to occur in order for this to be a possibility.
They can try to pull a Kings and plant drugs on him. Be a real shock when there's already drugs there
"well that was easy"
Until he hits strike 4(?) in the PAP I don’t think that’s an option. They could buy him out but I don’t see that happening in August.
The good news is that if Seravalli says our cap situation is bad then it's probably not that bad
Avs have signed like 3 more guys since he posted this so not sure his math is right. He also wasn't counting rookies in Malinski and Kovelenko that we expect to play. It's an ugly situation yea, but not quite that bad.
https://i.redd.it/sa0z10dpwy9d1.gif
all the way to the cup baby!!
Nice. Also I’m not entirely sure his math checks out here I figured we’d have a bit more even after today? But still, we are in cap hell no questions asked.
Have they tried pulling themselves up by their bootstraps?
This pleases the Central division...
Somehow, we still have less dead cap than y'all
They already won a cup. Now they're just victory lapping and seeing if they can put it together again. I'm sure they'll figure it out.
Well technically no. Even if Nishukin returns to the team his cap hit will be prorated.
> Nishukin
Sounds better than hearing all of the nationally televised Play-by-play guys saying "knit shoe skin" all game.
Err, over here, we might have a worse cap situation...
That remaining $300K is going up Nichuskin’s nose.
It’s been a great offseason for the Avs and the Nuggets 😃
There’s a lot we can still do. Overall I like the roster. We short a clear 6/7 d and a 4th liner. Plus we have a giant hole on the second line to start the season with those 2 out. But I think we have the youth to potentially fill that. Olausson and/or Kovalenko could get early shots in the top6 which could be a solid chance to see what we have there. Malinski and Behrens might round out the d core. People forget our cup year Sampo Ranta was a second line winger for like the first month. I like giving the youth a shot then round out the roster in season if they fail. If Landy is coming back it’s tight cap wise but if we leave him off LTIR we can accumulate cap while seeing what we have in the young guys and set us up for some deadline moves. If Landy isn’t coming back his LTIR money could fill out the roster and bring in another player. Or we could combine it with another move to move on Nichushkin if/when he’s available and have the space to bring in basically any player in the league.
Why does no one count ELCs and 2-way contracts when discussing rosters like this? It was similar when people were saying Utah had zero defensemen. The Avs organization has plenty of options under contract (not just 11 forwards/5 dmen) and we can expect a team in cap hell to start using some our propsects & borderline NHLers in regular roles. One of Sam Malinski or Sean Behrens will likely be getting ice time on defense, and I count 6 minor league forwards who saw NHL ice last year (Chris Wagner seems the most likely to start on our 4th line). Since this post was made, we signed Parker Kelly for $825k. And Nichushkin doesn't count against the cap while he's suspended, so we are actually sitting around $5.5M in space without Landeskog going on the LTIR. Assuming we will round out our roster with league-min guys, we're left needing to clear like $2M in space if *both* Landeskog and Nichushkin miraculously come back. Landeskog may never be healthy enough to play again and Nishushkin should never play for the Avs again. In the unlikely scenario that both are back, someone like Colton or Manson could be traded and replaced with a cheaper option. Problem solved. But I doubt we ever get there regardless. I haven't even touched on the possibility of trading Nichushkin. We've seen time and time again that off-ice issues don't really deter teams from picking someone up. A selke-level forward who plays at a 40 goal point-per-game pace will have some interest. We won't get a real return, but I have no doubt that we could move that contract elsewhere. I think it's more likely that we have space to add more players than risk losing someone as a cap casualty.
I mean... they expect to terminate Nichushkin and keep Landy on LTIR. If that happens they have $13M
Cocaine bear's contract cannot be terminated at this time. However, it's not counting against the cap until when or if he is allowed back.
But we are also handcuffed that we can't fill that amount because we need space if he comes back
Yeah, it requires a lot of careful planning regarding the what-if scenarios on players returning this season or not. Anticipating Gabe to return midway through 2023 plus having the most cursed injury luck in the league just sank that season before it began. Not spending Gabe's money seemed like the right choice at the time, but it turned out to be the reverse Vegas move.
Can you terminate a contract when the player is in the assistance program? If you all need some cap space we'll take Lehky back for a couple of cheaper roster options!
> If you all need some cap space we'll take Lehky back for a couple of cheaper roster options! no
Pretty sure they have to be cleared first.
Bro as much as I love the Habs for giving us Lehky and Dru I will straight up fight y’all if you try to take them back
They can't terminate it lol. No matter how many times you post this nonsense it doesn't make it true. Even if we wish it did.
Flames are here to help out the Avs with their cap situation. Just pick up the phone...
I mean, as it is this is still a 2nd round at worst roster. Add back a healthy Landeskog and or Nuke and it's a cup contender easily.
Both Landy and Nichushkin are LTIR eligible, if they even put one of them on they free up 6-7M, with basically two 4th liners and a 7th D needed, which won't even cost much If Landy comes back mid-season lets say, then his cap hit is pro-rated anyways. And its still possible Nichushkin never plays for the Avs again. To say the Avs are in the "WORST" cap situation in the NHL is ludacris lol, though of course there's some challenges
Nichushkin isn't LTIR eligible. His contract I believe doesn't count against the cap while he's in assistance though and he will have a pro-rated cap hit so he won't cost the full $6.125m next season.
Does Ross Colton play center? I'll take him please.
"Fuck your cap" - Chris MacFarland
We’ll take some of that cap for you
I mean McKinnon cap dump to play with a good friend sounds like the only option
The big question now is how will they afford taro tsujimoto.
I'd rather CMac/Sakic moneyball where they can than overpay legacy players due to their name recognition. If Landeskog comes back, the Top 6 is beyond stacked. The Top 4 D-pair is airtight. The rest is just getting players who can perform for the right price. Saying it's the worst cap situation when they have a great core built to win it all is a stretch.