True, I would much rather play an Ovechkin-less Capitals team given the choice. Too bad though, he is a ton of fun to watch.
2018-19 NHL Season Thread - Caps were not suck last year edition
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Byr
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Will have interesting cap implications. 27ish mil at the end of the year with Horton on LTIR and a ~4 mil cap increase. Lets say 21ish for Marner and Matthews (9/12) and 4 mil for Muzzin leaves only 2 for Johnsson Kapanen and all the other guys we need to get signed. If we want the important pieces taken care of we'll have to move others still like Zaitsev and Brown.
Looking forward with Marleau coming off the books next year theres a chance we can re-sign Muzzin.
Looking forward with Marleau coming off the books next year theres a chance we can re-sign Muzzin.
Merrith
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Calgary is legit. Feel pretty fortunate Kuznetsov finally clutched it on that final PP at end of regulation b/c Flames made a push in the 3rd...although I knew we were going to put ourselves in that spot not scoring on one of our PP's in the 2nd...all those chances to have had a bigger lead going into the 3rd, and you knew that Flames would get a PP or two b/c it was 3-0 up to that point on calls.
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Can someone explain why Anderson wasn't in net for Toronto tonight? I mean, they squeaked out a win, but why put in your second stringer against the Penguins?
Toronto moved the puck really well in the offensive zone. Fun to watch that first line.
Toronto moved the puck really well in the offensive zone. Fun to watch that first line.
Merrith
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2nd night of back to back? Pens playing their 4th game in 6 days? Seems like a calculated gamble...that worked.
9-3 for Winnipeg, Anaheim boys party a little too hard after All Stars?
Jets broke a team record with 6 goals in first period, something you might not know if not a Winnipeg fan.
This could be the year, I want to believe...
Jets broke a team record with 6 goals in first period, something you might not know if not a Winnipeg fan.
This could be the year, I want to believe...
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Vulg
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Marleau is signed through 19-20 with a cap hit of $6.25M.
Zaitsez has an immovable contract through 23-24 at $4.5M. Also, there's no way Marner signs for less than $10M, even for a shorter term as is speculated.
Basically, the only substantial cap relief is going to come from Gardiner, who will have to walk. Also, Muzzin is signed through next year, so he effectively steps into Gardiner's shoes next season. Marleau's deal expiring the following year will be the next block of money that frees up.
Personally, I think Nylander gets traded in the offseason to make room for some of the upcoming young guys and maybe explore the market a bit.
Byr
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Think youve exaggerated more than a bit. Zaitsev is far from unmovable. 4 mil isnt a hard salary to swallow. We would have to give up assets/picks for someone to do it though. The media has started this $10 mil buzz for Marner but his closest comparable, Patrick Kanes first big deal, took 11% of the salary cap. That comes out to close to 9 million now. While Kanes was a bridge, I dont think a few extra years adds 1 mil a year to Marners deal. The 10 mil figure makes no sense at all when you take the time to look at the contracts around the league.
Heres a post breaking it down.
Giving Marner a $10,000,000 deal would be giving him Kucherov money except Kucherov scores more points, has done it for longer and doesnt have John Tavares as his center.
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Vulg
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I actually remember reading that Reddit thread. The debate pretty much plays out in the comments so I won't repeat them here except to highlight the most upvoted one that compares Marner to the last player top top 100 points before their 2nd contract (Ovechkin - ~17% of cap). Bottom line is that it's hard to compare Marner to anybody at his age and rate of progression.
Marner's agents are also taking a harder line than Matthews, refusing to negotiate until the season is over. They know they have a good things going. As a fan, I hope there's a bit of a hometown discount, but that's not the best sign.
As for Zaitsev, it's 4.5, not 4. He gets paid more than Muzzin. The only way the Leafs can move him is as part of a trade that offers incentive to take on that contract. I hope I'm wrong, but we'll see.
Marner's agents are also taking a harder line than Matthews, refusing to negotiate until the season is over. They know they have a good things going. As a fan, I hope there's a bit of a hometown discount, but that's not the best sign.
As for Zaitsev, it's 4.5, not 4. He gets paid more than Muzzin. The only way the Leafs can move him is as part of a trade that offers incentive to take on that contract. I hope I'm wrong, but we'll see.
Merrith
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The Ovechkin contract though is extremely different from any other comparable one in that he basically signed a 7 year deal and a 6 year deal together in one massive 13 year deal. The first "deal" within the deal paid him $9M a year, while the second half it went up to $10M a year. Leonsis was gambling that the salary cap would go up by so much that by the 2nd half the deal would actually be below market value. People thought he was crazy betting on a guy to stay healthy and productive for that long.
Ironically, Ovechkin has absolutely stayed healthy and productive enough to justify the contract. Also, his $9.5M cap hit looks pretty good when Toews and Kane are both above $10M now, and McDavid is making almost a full 33% more. On the flip side, the cap has indeed gone up quite a bit since he signed the deal, but not by as much as Leonsis and Mcphee were hoping at the time it was signed.
As for being able to move Zaitsev's contract...I've thought much worse contracts than his would never be moved and they have. Hell, the Caps were able to dump Brooks Orpik's final year at a $5M cap hit to Colorado (AND they bought him out...we were then able to re-sign him for $1M this year). All it cost us was our backup goalie last year, Grubauer...who did look as good as a starter for most of last season. We also did get a 2nd round pick coming back the other way, though. Even if that's not directly comparable given Orpik's age and just 1 year left...there's plenty of other shit contracts that teams have found a way to move. Never underestimate the stupidity of NHL GM's. At least one is waiting to make a new mistake bigger than anyone else.
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Vulg
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Fair enough. I never thought that the Leafs would be able to dump David Clarkson, yet it happened. Zaitsev is negative value at that $ but you're right, you never know - I think the worst part of his deal is the term (doesn't expire until 2024).
Merrith
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Clarkson deal probably up there for competition for the absolute worst (worse than Zaitsev). It got done. Honestly every GM is going to have to be thinking about certain moves given that Seattle expansion draft will occur in the near future...and I'm sure the rest of the league doesn't want to get fleeced as badly as Mcphee did with some of their picks (although that's a whole different discussion about whether the rules were too in their favor, or if there was a perfect storm of some guys situations making them available to build a team).