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Carolina Hurricanes Blogger •
Last week, I laid out the roster with salaries and free agents for this summer as a starting point for discussing what the Canes might do this summer and what the $ limitations are. Because so many contracts expires at the end of 09-10, I think taking a look at next summer could have a lot to say about how much money might be available to keep players and maybe even add 1-2. The regular print shows free agents for this summer and the italics shows the free agents for next summer. All numbers are actual 09-10 salaries and not salary cap numbers. The 1st continues to be more relevant for the Canes who have so far been more bounded by team budget than league salary cap.
Whitney $3.5 (U) / Staal $7.5 / Cole $3.0 (U)
Ruutu $2.8 (R) / Cullen $2.8 (U) / Larose $2.0 (U)
Samsonov $2.8 / BrindAmour $3.0 / Walker $2.5 (U)
Bayda $0.5 (U) / Jokinen $2.0 (R) / Eaves $1.7
Sutter $0.9
Pitkanen $4.5 / Babchuk $1.8 (R)
Gleason $3.0 / Corvo $2.8 (U)
Kaberle $2.2 (U) / Wallin $1.7 (U)
Seidenberg $1.2 (U)
Ward $3.5 (R) / Leighton $0.6 (U)
Sometimes people make too much of a bunch of players coming off contract. You need to replace them, so if a cheap 1st line forward on an entry level contract comes off the books at $1M, it hurts you not helps you when you need to resign them at more money. But in the Canes case for next summer, there is a bunch of money in lower half of the roster spots coming off the books. Most, if not all, of these players could hopefully be replaced by younger and cheaper guys making less than $1M per year.
The free agents of next summer break down like this:
--Ward ($3.5M). I put him in a separate category first because I think he will be resigned this summer and second because he is clearly a part of the team going forward, so it is not like his money could become available for something else.
--Whitney, Cullen, Corvo, Leighton (Total $9.7M). These players all hold spots in the top half of the roster (except Leighton who will cost the same to replace) and will need to be resigned or replaced by similar players probably in a similar price range. There is no huge cost savings to be had here, and in fact refilling these spots could end up costing more.
--Walker, Kaberle, Wallin (Total $6.4M). Here is your cost savings. At the end of 08-09, Wallin was a #5 defensemen and Kaberle a #6 or #7. And while Walker did step in admirably at times in higher places (namely game 7 in Boston), he is really a 3rd or 4th line forward especially in terms of scoring contribution at this point in his career. You would think that all 3 of these spots will be filled with youth making roughly $0.8M each for a savings of about $4M come next summer. This plus the profit that the team made with the deep playoff run this year is what GM Jim Rutherford gets to dip into maybe as early as this summer to build the team going forward.
With that, let me throw out a preview of my turn to play Canes GM. I will post a full blog hopefully Wednesday morning with my shot.
First, you have to understand GM Jim Rutherford’s approach and history of working through the summer. About every year it goes the same:
1) He commits to absolutely nothing right after the season ends. He works through exit interviews, talks to coaches, talks to Karmanos, takes some time to reflect on things and only then starts moving forward.
In the midst of this, he invariably gets questioned by local media and makes a few odd and vague comments that sound non-commital on things and the rumors swirl up. Last summer, the rumors were about Laviolette’s potential firing which did not happen. This summer there are questions about Maurice, Francis’s long-term role, etc. But had you asked Rutherford after the Stanley Cup win about Laviolette’s job 2 days after he hoisted the Cup, Rutherford would have been the same vague version of non-commital. That is just how he is. So today the News & Observer reported that the coaching staff was expected to be brought back more or less as is. And for people who have not followed past summers closely I guess this is a surprise.
Then after the sorting out phase and the rumors that come with the wheel turning slowly, it goes like this for Rutherford.
1) Coaches and staff (It sounds like this is done).
2) Anything big that affects the other stuff. I am on record very shortly after the season ended as betting that the first big signing this summer would be Cam Ward. He with Staal are the 2 pillars of the future of the Canes and locking him up helps provide the budget framework going forward.
3) The unrestricted free agents. The next wave of rumors and speculation around the Canes this summer will be the lack of signing of restricted free agents. Again, if you follow Rutherford’s history, he has always done things in a step-by-step, “there is a correct order” way. That means that he probably focuses mostly on Larose, Cole and (if he does anything) Seidenberg. I already talked some about why I think Seidenberg is an odd man out. I think Cole is a key piece here. If/how much he costs could have something to say about whether Rutherford does some shopping in the free agent market.
4) The restricted free agents.
I will put up my thoughts on how it all works out hopefully tomorrow morning.
Go Canes!
Whitney $3.5 (U) / Staal $7.5 / Cole $3.0 (U)
Ruutu $2.8 (R) / Cullen $2.8 (U) / Larose $2.0 (U)
Samsonov $2.8 / BrindAmour $3.0 / Walker $2.5 (U)
Bayda $0.5 (U) / Jokinen $2.0 (R) / Eaves $1.7
Sutter $0.9
Pitkanen $4.5 / Babchuk $1.8 (R)
Gleason $3.0 / Corvo $2.8 (U)
Kaberle $2.2 (U) / Wallin $1.7 (U)
Seidenberg $1.2 (U)
Ward $3.5 (R) / Leighton $0.6 (U)
Sometimes people make too much of a bunch of players coming off contract. You need to replace them, so if a cheap 1st line forward on an entry level contract comes off the books at $1M, it hurts you not helps you when you need to resign them at more money. But in the Canes case for next summer, there is a bunch of money in lower half of the roster spots coming off the books. Most, if not all, of these players could hopefully be replaced by younger and cheaper guys making less than $1M per year.
The free agents of next summer break down like this:
--Ward ($3.5M). I put him in a separate category first because I think he will be resigned this summer and second because he is clearly a part of the team going forward, so it is not like his money could become available for something else.
--Whitney, Cullen, Corvo, Leighton (Total $9.7M). These players all hold spots in the top half of the roster (except Leighton who will cost the same to replace) and will need to be resigned or replaced by similar players probably in a similar price range. There is no huge cost savings to be had here, and in fact refilling these spots could end up costing more.
--Walker, Kaberle, Wallin (Total $6.4M). Here is your cost savings. At the end of 08-09, Wallin was a #5 defensemen and Kaberle a #6 or #7. And while Walker did step in admirably at times in higher places (namely game 7 in Boston), he is really a 3rd or 4th line forward especially in terms of scoring contribution at this point in his career. You would think that all 3 of these spots will be filled with youth making roughly $0.8M each for a savings of about $4M come next summer. This plus the profit that the team made with the deep playoff run this year is what GM Jim Rutherford gets to dip into maybe as early as this summer to build the team going forward.
With that, let me throw out a preview of my turn to play Canes GM. I will post a full blog hopefully Wednesday morning with my shot.
First, you have to understand GM Jim Rutherford’s approach and history of working through the summer. About every year it goes the same:
1) He commits to absolutely nothing right after the season ends. He works through exit interviews, talks to coaches, talks to Karmanos, takes some time to reflect on things and only then starts moving forward.
In the midst of this, he invariably gets questioned by local media and makes a few odd and vague comments that sound non-commital on things and the rumors swirl up. Last summer, the rumors were about Laviolette’s potential firing which did not happen. This summer there are questions about Maurice, Francis’s long-term role, etc. But had you asked Rutherford after the Stanley Cup win about Laviolette’s job 2 days after he hoisted the Cup, Rutherford would have been the same vague version of non-commital. That is just how he is. So today the News & Observer reported that the coaching staff was expected to be brought back more or less as is. And for people who have not followed past summers closely I guess this is a surprise.
Then after the sorting out phase and the rumors that come with the wheel turning slowly, it goes like this for Rutherford.
1) Coaches and staff (It sounds like this is done).
2) Anything big that affects the other stuff. I am on record very shortly after the season ended as betting that the first big signing this summer would be Cam Ward. He with Staal are the 2 pillars of the future of the Canes and locking him up helps provide the budget framework going forward.
3) The unrestricted free agents. The next wave of rumors and speculation around the Canes this summer will be the lack of signing of restricted free agents. Again, if you follow Rutherford’s history, he has always done things in a step-by-step, “there is a correct order” way. That means that he probably focuses mostly on Larose, Cole and (if he does anything) Seidenberg. I already talked some about why I think Seidenberg is an odd man out. I think Cole is a key piece here. If/how much he costs could have something to say about whether Rutherford does some shopping in the free agent market.
4) The restricted free agents.
I will put up my thoughts on how it all works out hopefully tomorrow morning.
Go Canes!
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