I've had several e-mails and calls from people asking when I'm going to write again, and suggesting a few things to write about. Unfortunately, work has been busy for the last month [such is the life of an actuary, it's even worse when you have a work ethic and guilt yourself into going in to work at all hours of the day because you
just have to fix something instead of letting it wait until tomorrow] so I couldn't get back and write again ... but now that I've got time, I'll use this space to answer a few questions I received as well as clarify a few other things.
The Skinny on Buyouts
While everyone knows that teams can buy out players from about June 15 to June 30, there's still confusion about whether teams can buy out players after that, how many buyouts teams can execute, and the conditions attached ... so I'll explain everything to hopefully clear up the subject once and for all.
There are two periods during which teams can buy out players. The first one is the one everyone is familiar with, the period from 48 hours after the end of the Finals [or June 15 - whichever is later] to June 30 ... which the CBA refers to as the "Regular Period." [As if there's an "irregular period," but that discussion is better suited for another time and place.] Teams have used this about 32 times since the 2006 offseason, but until this summer no one had taken advantage of the second period for buyouts: the period after July 1. This period is only available if the team involved has at least one (1) player who filed for arbitration; if the team has only one player involved in arbitration and it's because the team elected it, the 2nd buyout period is not available. In the 2nd buyout period, the team has a 48-hour period starting 3 days after the
final player is settled [whether because the two sides have negotiated a contract or because an arbitration award has been given]. Thus if there are 3 players who filed, the team cannot take action to buy out players until the 3rd player is settled.
Examples:
1. A team has one player who filed for arbitration. The two sides agree on a contract on July 9. The team has from July 12-14 to buy out players.
2. A team has two players who've filed for arbitration. The first player is settled on July 12, the second player goes to arbitration and receives an award on August 2. The team has from August 5-7 to buy out players.
3. A team has taken one player to arbitration, and another player has filed for arbitration. One player is settled on July 10, the other player is settled on July 13. The team has from July 16-18 to buy out players.
4. A team has taken one player to arbitration, and no other players have filed. The team may not buy out any players after July 1.
There's also confusion over how many players a team can buy out. The CBA places no limit on the number of players that can be bought out in the "Regular Period", but Article 11.18 states there is a limit of 3 buyouts over the life of the current CBA on buyouts that can be made after July 1. Thus, if some team wants to buy out 5 players prior to June 30, it's perfectly acceptable.
So to recap:
-- First Period: from June 15ish to June 30, available to all teams, no limit on # of buyouts allowed per year or over life of CBA.
-- Second Period: only available to teams who have at least one player filing for arbitration, only available in 48-hour window after final player going to arbitration is settled, limit 3 buyouts over the life of the CBA.
[Insert team here] is over/under, what will they do?
I think I've seen this asked about several teams already this offseason, and the answer is the same for all of them:
they'll be compliant by the time the season starts. Surely, no one thinks that someone is going to go into Opening Night over/under and have to forfeit games ... right? The real question is "how will they do it?" and for some, it's quite easy.
Keep in mind that the rosters I have listed at
Cap Central are based on both my guess at what each team will start off with and suggestions from fans of those teams [where I've received feedback - if you think something needs tweaked, by all means ... let me know] and thus teams may be in better/worse shape depending on what the final roster looks like. The other thing that needs to be considered by everyone: teams don't have to get down to $56.7 million [or up to $40.7 million] until the end of training camp. That's still a little under 2 months away - so in reality, there's plenty of time to get cap compliant. Making panic moves right now can lead to bad decisions and bigger problems down the road.
Daniel Tolensky has a good write-up on the Kings cap situation, and while I might quibble about a few of the numbers [Doughty will probably end up closer to $3,225,000 while Stoll ends up closer to $3 million], the fact is it's really not going to be that difficult for the Kings to get to $40.7 million and then some. The other teams?
-- Anaheim will almost certainly deal a player; while popular sentiment is that Mathieu Schneider is the guy leaving, Chris Kunitz is another possibility given his salary - and the Kings have the recently-signed Eric Boguinecki or
-- Washington will very likely have Brian Pothier and Chris Clark starting the season on LTIR; there's also the chance that Karl Alzner goes back to juniors for one final season.
-- Calgary may still send Rhett Warrener to the minors [if he doesn't retire first] and swap Marcus Nilsson [to the minors] for a Jamie Lundmark
-- Philadelphia can bury anyone they choose in the minors [as they did with Denis Gauthier last season] or put Derian Hatcher on LTIR alongside Mike Rathje.
-- The Rangers can bury anyone they choose in the minors [if they don't trade someone off first].
-- Chicago will have James Wisniewski on LTIR to start the season, and a trade is still not out of the question; in fact, I'll be amazed if they manage to fill out a 21-22 man roster without one.
-- Atlanta could be [will probably be] a destination for any player shipped off by one of the above teams, especially on defense [where the Thrashers are very thin at the moment].
Miscellaneous
-- To answer questions about the spreadsheet:
yes, it's still available. I sent the most recent version out on Sunday night to those who requested it - if you would like to receive it before it's available at the site, send me an e-mail with "Spreadsheet Mailing List" in the subject line, and I'll get you added for the next update. It's not dead-on accurate [yet], as I don't have complete information on some signings and most entry-level players ... but that should be available in the next couple of weeks. The spreadsheet will be available at NHLSCAP tomorrow evening.
-- Yes, I'll be showing who has a 2-way contract at Cap Central before too long; I've had the data there all along, but I haven't had time to work on this. [Something about work and a work ethic getting in the way.] I'm shooting for getting this up by the start of training camp.
-- "It's Andrei and Sergei Kostsitsyn, not Siarhei Kastsitsyn."
I know that. I've put up a note on the NHLSCAP home page about this - my data ties exactly to how the NHL displays names [which is why you see names Colin (John) White] - and to switch back and forth caused problems previously. I'll be correcting these over the next week to match the current listing at NHL.com. [Of course, that means if NHL.com switches a name, I'll be switching it as well.]
-- I've seen people refer to my site as "NHL's Cap" or something similar. To clear up any confusion, the site is not affiliated with the National Hockey League; the NHL does not sponsor or endorse my site [nor does it sponsor or endorse any othe site that attempts to do what I've been doing for 3 years now]. The site name is simply NHLSCAP [pronounced NHL-S-CAP], short for "NHL Salary Cap."
-- There's
still appears to be confusion over what picks teams can use in offer sheets ... which is why I wrote
this page at NHLSCAP over a year ago to explain it all. [Short answer: a team has to use its own picks - it can never use picks from other teams.]
-- While I can always write on lots of things, it's more interesting if I'm answering questions that everyone else has ... so if you have a suggestion for a future topic, e-mail it to me and I'll try to write on it and clear up more questions. I've already been asked to do a write-up of LTIR and the cap implications of LTIR, and I'll have it out next week.
Join the Discussion:
»