…the Carolina Hurricanes. Say what? Who? The small market Carolina Hurricanes?
That’s right. If you add up the top 6 salary cap hits for the rosters of all 30 NHL teams, it turns out that the Carolina Hurricanes top the charts at a very big marketish $38.0M averaging $6.3M per player. I used top 6 as an arbitrary number figuring that could be a starting lineup though the top 6 paid players do not necessarily fill out a lineup. The complete rankings and a few notes are included at the bottom. I calculated this manually, so let me know if you find a math ‘oops’ bigger than a rounding error. Interestingly in the Canes case not a single defenseman makes the top 6 cut (Pitkanen and Gleason do fall just outside it) which might explain why the team struggled so much defensively last season especially when Cam Ward (whose $6.5M places him third) was injured.
So what does it all mean?
First of all, it has been a very dramatic change in a very short period of time for the Canes. Just a little more than one year ago (right before the draft), the Canes were trying to figure out how they were going to climb to meet the cap floor projected to be $56M. Then it happened in 3 quick lightning strikes. The Canes traded for Jordan Staal and promptly signed him to a 10-year $60M contract, re-upped Jeff Skinner for 6 years at $35M and signed Alexander Semin to a 1-year deal. When the Canes re-signed him during the season for 5 years at $35M, Rutherford had locked up 30% of his 2013-14 salary and doled out contracts totaling $130M in less than a season’s time. When added to the existing contracts of EStaal, Ward and Ruutu, the team had committed about 60% of the 2013-14 salary cap limit to 6 players. Bumping up against the salary cap and having it limit what the team can do is a first in franchise history. I am not sure if the confident and aggressive spending is a sign that the franchise has made it to the big time or a sign of an impending financial apocalypse.
Second, it explains why I cannot seem to fill out a roster I like needing to fill only 2-3 spots externally. There just is not enough money left to do what needs to be done. The Canes have $6.4M left to spend and at a minimum 3 roster spots to fill (1 D, 2 F). My ideal wish list would include:
1) A top 4 defenseman pushing Sekera to #5 and making the team real deep ($3-4.5M).
2) 2 big/gritty 2nd/3rd-line capable forwards ($3-4M total).
3) 1 more depth forward and a backup goalie ($1.5M total).
Minus the trade of a forward that offers cap relief, an either/or decision becomes clear. Either the Canes can go get a top 4 defenseman and have about nothing left to spend at forward, or the team can get a couple higher-end/3rd line forwards (maybe still with a depth, not top 4 defenseman).
Finally, the Canes need to get big production from their top players because their salaries do not leave a ton of money to round out a balanced lineup per my comments above.
I will post a “free agent frenzy preview” blog of sorts before the gates open on Friday that offers some options for building out the rest of the 2013-14 opening day roster on a shoestring budget of $6.4M.
For a quick heads up when I post a Canes blog and/or to join in the occasional Twitter debate follow me at CarolinaMatt63.
1-30 rankings for salary cap hit for 6 highest players follows:
1-Car = $38.0
2-Min = $37.2M
3-Pit = $36.2
4-Chi = $35.1M
4-Was = $35.1
6-LA = $34.8M
7-SJ = $34.6M
8-Ana = $34.2M
9-Bos = $33.4M
10-NYR = $33.0M
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11-Van = $32.0M
12-Clu = $31.9M
13-Tam = $31.6M
14-Edm = $31.3M
14-Buf = $31.3M
16-Tor = $30.8M
17-Mon = $30.7M
18-Det = $30.5M
19-Dal = $29.8
20-Phi = $29.7M
21-Pho = $29.5
22-Cal = $29.1M
22-Wpg = $29.1M
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24-NJ = $28.4M
25-Ott = $27.6M
26-Nas = $26.9
27-Fla = $26.8M
28-Clr = $26.5M
29-StL = $26.3M
30-NYI = $22.0M
Quick comments on the rankings: 13 teams fall in the pretty narrow middle of $29-32M. If you eyeball the top teams, most fit 1 of 2 descriptions: 1) A recent success which escalates salaries because players earn more and the team pays it to keep a good team together and also because they are earning enough to afford to keep people (Bos, Chi, Pit, LA and to some degree NYR, Was); 2) Teams that just issued new contracts for their top players (Car, Min, Ana).
Go Canes!
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