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Halsichuk a Jet & 5 Jets to Arbitration |
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UPDATE
After a strange day where some spotted Matt Halischuk on the Jets roster from the official website, moments ago Scott Brown tweeted that the two sides have come to terms. Halischuk is a smaller RW at 187 lbs and 5' 11" and adds some depth to the RW side for the team. He's bigger than Wellwood and Miettinen who are highly unlikely to return to Winnipeg and that may help the Jets in some capacities.
He had a decent year in 11-12 with 15G-13A in 73 games but dropped off from that .38pts/game to .28pts/game this past season. Halischuk has 54 points in 157 career NHL games.
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Interesting note: if a player files for arbitration they cannot be offer sheeted if the team does the player can still sign an offer sheet.
Yesterday on the deadline for players to file for arbitration, when 21 players chose that option, the most on any team were five from the Winnipeg Jets. More importantly of that five three could bee seen as critical players the Jets need to as part of their line up, Bogosian, Wheeler and Little. Tangradi and Postma rounded out the five but they are hardly what Jets' fans would call 'critical cogs'.
Right now the Winnipeg Jets have 45 million in committed cap expenditures and just over 19 million in space to spend. This is a very critical point because depending on the amounts of money being asked for the Jets could find themselves in a cap crunch. Last season the average salary between Bogo, Little and Wheeler was $2,477, 777. None of the three earned more than 3 million per year and by most standards that's a bargain for what the Jets got from them.
However, when that amount goes up the problems start.
If the average is $3.5 million and total is 10.5 added to the payroll that leaves Jets GM Kevin Chevaldayoff with approximately 9 million to fill 11 roster spots. The players in that first 45 million happen to include Mark Scheifele and Jacob Trouba as roster players. So while there is space to be gained if the two do not play on the Jets it also adds two holes to fill and there is this nagging need of a third line centre now that Burmistrov has left for the KHL.
Squeeze that remaining cap space a bit tighter and go to where most think the 'big 3' will be in terms of total cap consumption, close to 14.55 million and you can see that there is a real problem here for the Jets.
When looking at the numbers it makes sense that Adam Pardy at $600k is a good insurance policy (if you can be that optimistic) should not all of the RFAs can be signed.
So let's get back to arbitration. It's a leverage move but one that can have some dramatic effects. Take Bogosian, should a two year deal be accepted he would be a UFA once expired. It's risky for both sides but the bigger risk is for Winnipeg not getting anything in return if he walks in two years.
Forget that the Jets have two great defense prospects in Trouba and Morrissey, if the business model is to draft well maximize return but then let good players leave because of cost this franchise is in a world of trouble in the future. However, that's what some Jets fans are feeling right now.
Wheeler signed a deal before his arbitration hearing in 2011 and I suspect the three get deals before hearings start. The bigger question will be is how much money is left over and if it's not enough, what happens then?
Tangradi and Postma could be left out in the cold, as could some of the roster depth the Jets desperately need in the bottom six. That's part in parcel for players to think about when going into contract negotiations, and for this year at least taking more than what may be a 'fair share' of cap space eats away at your union brother's slice.
It still goes back to this issue of asset allocation and having two players on the blue line both over 5 million per year, neither of which are all-star calibre seems to be a hindrance.
Despite the arbitration hearings one thing has not changed for the Winnipeg Jets in that the balance of expenditure on the roster is probably not equal it's return. No amount of 'home town' deals for the remaining RFAs or any UFA players is going to change that. Bigger and bolder moves will but that's up to Chevy and the rest of the management team.
Speaking of management does anyone think it's odd that 5 players decided they wanted or needed arbitration leverage? It's a question being asked around Winnipeg and one that many Jets fans may rather not know the answer to. Why?
What if the GM isn't doing a good a job behind the scenes as they want, or believe. There's no evidence to suggest that's happening but five guys, three of which are 'core' players, seem to think that's their best way to get what they believe is a salary matching their value.
I, like many others, said Chevy would have his stamp on this team after this post season- hopefully for him it's doesn't come from an arbitrator's ruling rather than his own work.
I think this gets resolved before the hearings so here's my image of where this goes:
Bogosian 6 years with average salary of 4.7 million
Wheeler is 4 years at 19 million
Little is 4 years at 19 million
Total cap hit is 14.2 million.
Which means Tangradi and Postma are picking up the crumbs.
Winnipeg Jets Blogger •Winnipeg Jets Writer • 
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