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Carolina Hurricanes Blogger •
The great (except the Pittsburgh series) end to the 2008-09 season for the Carolina Hurricanes leads into an interesting offseason.
Do you consider this team one that has been within 3-4 points of making or missing the playoffs each of the last 3 seasons in which case maybe you need to make some big changes?
Do you consider this team to be one that came within 4 wins of the finals in which case maybe you want to mostly keep it together?
Do you consider this team to be a good team but one not built to beat a team with high-end talent like Pittsburgh in which case maybe you need to make adjustments specifically targeted for beating the elite in the playoffs next year?
The decisions are many and complex for Canes GM Jim Rutherford this summer. Here is your chance to do his job for a day.
The backdrop goes like this:
--Entering 08-09, the Canes had a roster of roughly $49.6 million committed. That was slightly above the alleged Peter Karmanos budget (as is the case most years). This was well below the $56.7 million salary cap.
--The team was actually profitable in 09-10. It was published that the team reached the breakeven point with game 6 in the Boston series, so let's figure the team made something like $3-5 million from 2 Pens games at expensive prices plus the gear and food that goes with it.
--I figure the budget is probably somewhere in the $50-53 million range for a couple reasons. First, after making money in 08-09 and also helping 09-10 ticket sales with the playoff success and also new season ticket lock-ins for those wanting playoff tickets, Karmanos should be willing to spend a little more. Second, the team has some expensive players coming off contract at the end of 09-10 (Walker $2.5M; Wallin $1.8M; Kaberle $2.2M; Whitney $3.6M; Eaves $1.4M; Corvo $2.8M; Cullen $2.8M). I figure Karmanos will let Rutherford spend some of that money early.
--Finally, let's ignore the salary cap for now. Estimates are that it will decrease to something like $54-55 million. That does pull the Canes closer to it, but so far in their history the team's budget has been limited by internal limits not the league's cap.
With that, let me lay out the ending 08-09 roster in 09-10 prices. The players under contract are in bold. The players not under contract are noted as unrestricted (U) or restricted (R) free agents with a guess for what they might cost to resign. Again, I am not worrying about the salary cap, so all numbers are actual 09-10 salary numbers and not salary cap numbers.
Whitney $3.6 / Staal $6.0 / Cole $3.0 (U)
Ruutu $2.8 (R) / Cullen $2.8 / Larose $2.0 (U)
Samsonov $2.5 / BrindAmour $3.0 /Walker $2.5
Bayda $0.5 (U) / Jokinen $2.0 (R) / Eaves $1.4
Sutter $0.9
Pitkanen $4.0 / Seidenberg $1.2 (U)
Gleason $2.5 / Corvo $2.8
Kaberle $2.2 / Wallin $1.8
Babchuk $1.8 (R)
Ward $3.5 / Leighton $0.6
Rough math with my guesstimates for the unsigned players says that the total to keep the whole team together (including a couple extras for a roster of 22) would be about $53.3 million.
So here are your questions as a GM:
1) Which of the free agents do you resign at these prices? Or do you think a couple guys will cost more or less?
2) Who do you get rid of to make a couple spots for younger, cheaper guys to play their way onto the roster? Bowman, Boychuk and Sutter could challenge at forward. Carson, Rodney and Borer all have looked decent in auditions and could be ready to step in on defense?
3) Do you cut a couple guys loose to free up money to sign a free agent or 2? What is your top target? A scoring right wing for Staal's line? A top-tier defenseman maybe to pair with Pitkanen? Depth at center? Or?
4) Which players under contract or in restricted status might you consider trading to upgrade elsewhere? This is tricky because some of the bigger salaries in lesser roles have no-trade clauses and others are hard to move because of their price tags. The Canes have already tried unsuccessfully to move Kaberle. Wallin reportedly refused to waive his no-trade clause last summer. I believe Walker might also have a no-trade clause and would be difficult to move with his $2.5M price tag anyway. Eaves might have some value. If signed first, Babchuk would have value. Who else might you consider trading that could get a return?
I will leave this out for discussion and debate until early next week and will write up a detailed blog of what I would do this summer sometime next week.
Go Canes!
Do you consider this team one that has been within 3-4 points of making or missing the playoffs each of the last 3 seasons in which case maybe you need to make some big changes?
Do you consider this team to be one that came within 4 wins of the finals in which case maybe you want to mostly keep it together?
Do you consider this team to be a good team but one not built to beat a team with high-end talent like Pittsburgh in which case maybe you need to make adjustments specifically targeted for beating the elite in the playoffs next year?
The decisions are many and complex for Canes GM Jim Rutherford this summer. Here is your chance to do his job for a day.
The backdrop goes like this:
--Entering 08-09, the Canes had a roster of roughly $49.6 million committed. That was slightly above the alleged Peter Karmanos budget (as is the case most years). This was well below the $56.7 million salary cap.
--The team was actually profitable in 09-10. It was published that the team reached the breakeven point with game 6 in the Boston series, so let's figure the team made something like $3-5 million from 2 Pens games at expensive prices plus the gear and food that goes with it.
--I figure the budget is probably somewhere in the $50-53 million range for a couple reasons. First, after making money in 08-09 and also helping 09-10 ticket sales with the playoff success and also new season ticket lock-ins for those wanting playoff tickets, Karmanos should be willing to spend a little more. Second, the team has some expensive players coming off contract at the end of 09-10 (Walker $2.5M; Wallin $1.8M; Kaberle $2.2M; Whitney $3.6M; Eaves $1.4M; Corvo $2.8M; Cullen $2.8M). I figure Karmanos will let Rutherford spend some of that money early.
--Finally, let's ignore the salary cap for now. Estimates are that it will decrease to something like $54-55 million. That does pull the Canes closer to it, but so far in their history the team's budget has been limited by internal limits not the league's cap.
With that, let me lay out the ending 08-09 roster in 09-10 prices. The players under contract are in bold. The players not under contract are noted as unrestricted (U) or restricted (R) free agents with a guess for what they might cost to resign. Again, I am not worrying about the salary cap, so all numbers are actual 09-10 salary numbers and not salary cap numbers.
Whitney $3.6 / Staal $6.0 / Cole $3.0 (U)
Ruutu $2.8 (R) / Cullen $2.8 / Larose $2.0 (U)
Samsonov $2.5 / BrindAmour $3.0 /Walker $2.5
Bayda $0.5 (U) / Jokinen $2.0 (R) / Eaves $1.4
Sutter $0.9
Pitkanen $4.0 / Seidenberg $1.2 (U)
Gleason $2.5 / Corvo $2.8
Kaberle $2.2 / Wallin $1.8
Babchuk $1.8 (R)
Ward $3.5 / Leighton $0.6
Rough math with my guesstimates for the unsigned players says that the total to keep the whole team together (including a couple extras for a roster of 22) would be about $53.3 million.
So here are your questions as a GM:
1) Which of the free agents do you resign at these prices? Or do you think a couple guys will cost more or less?
2) Who do you get rid of to make a couple spots for younger, cheaper guys to play their way onto the roster? Bowman, Boychuk and Sutter could challenge at forward. Carson, Rodney and Borer all have looked decent in auditions and could be ready to step in on defense?
3) Do you cut a couple guys loose to free up money to sign a free agent or 2? What is your top target? A scoring right wing for Staal's line? A top-tier defenseman maybe to pair with Pitkanen? Depth at center? Or?
4) Which players under contract or in restricted status might you consider trading to upgrade elsewhere? This is tricky because some of the bigger salaries in lesser roles have no-trade clauses and others are hard to move because of their price tags. The Canes have already tried unsuccessfully to move Kaberle. Wallin reportedly refused to waive his no-trade clause last summer. I believe Walker might also have a no-trade clause and would be difficult to move with his $2.5M price tag anyway. Eaves might have some value. If signed first, Babchuk would have value. Who else might you consider trading that could get a return?
I will leave this out for discussion and debate until early next week and will write up a detailed blog of what I would do this summer sometime next week.
Go Canes!
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