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Ducks Place Stoner on Waivers |
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Countdown
Seven days to opening night. Hampus Lindholm and Rickard Rakell remain unsigned.
Stoner Waived
Earlier today the Ducks waived defenseman Clayton Stoner. Signed to a four year, $13M contract two summers ago, Stoner has been plagued with injuries during his Anaheim tenure. Although he brought a physical presence to the defensive corps, the arrival of Kevin Bieksa last year and the wealth of young defensemen in the organization makes him expendable.
If Stoner goes unclaimed while he is on waivers, the Ducks won't get much cap relief. Under the current collective bargaining agreement (CBA). From colliganhockey.com:
Under the 2013 CBA, teams no longer receive full cap relief when demoting a player on a one-way NHL contract to the American Hockey League (or loaning him to a team in another professional league). The AAV (Average Annual Value, aka cap hit) less the sum of the minimum NHL salary for that season plus $375,000 still counts against the Club’s cap total.
Minimum NHL salary this year is $575K. Therefore using the CBA formula Anaheim retains $3.25M (Stoner's cap hit)-$950K (league allowance) = $2.3M. That amount doesn't open enough cap room for the Ducks to resign Lindholm, Rakell and acquire an impact left wing.
Anaheim is a team that won't pay millions of dollars to keep a player in minor leagues, management is hoping that another team claims Stoner.
Wait, What About Us?
Trade rumors continue to swirl around defenseman Cam Fowler. Yesterday Ek reported Ducks GM Bob Murray was talking to Boston about Fowler. As we know from past experience with Murray, where there is smoke in the media, doesn't mean there is fire. He is notorious for playing his cards close to the vest. That's why Ek's blog post earlier today is interesting.
He reports that the Islanders negotiating with Arizona to send Ryan Strome to the Yotes for “a VERY strong top four defender. Going over Arizona's roster OEL is the franchise, so he stays, Goligoski has a NMC, so he stays as well.
That leaves Michael Stone, Connor Murphy and Luke Schenn as players the Isles could take back. Stone has one year and $4M left on his contract before he becomes an unrestricted free agent. Unless Isles GM Garth Snow has a deal in hand for Travis Hamonic, Shenn is unnecessary. The last man standing is Connor Murphy.
For just about the same salary, New York could trade for Fowler. An even larger deal could go down if Anaheim is willing to package Fowler with Rakell as well. Murray has the assets to make a deal.
Anaheim Ducks Blogger • 
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