The deal between the Florida Panthers and Vancouver Canucks involving defenseman Erik Gudbranson, forward Jared McCann and draft choices last month represented an early kickoff to the NHL summer trade season, but things are bound to get much busier with the Stanley Cup Final ending Sunday or next Wednesday.
On Friday, the Panthers struck again, trading forward Marc Savard and a 2018 second round pick to the New Jersey Devils for minor league forwards Paul Thompson and Graham Black.
Both trades are reflective of teams managing their budget with the prospect of the salary cap staying relatively even for 2016-17.
NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly announced last week that the cap could go down under $70 Million or unless the NHLPA votes for the 5% escalator clause and even with that affirmative vote, the salary cap would only increase to $72.8 Million.
The Panthers appear to be positioning themselves to be players in free agency or to bring in a big salary via trade, as it cost them a second round pick to move Savard’s $ 4.02 Million cap hit for the next season(who has not played since 2010).
Savard’s rights were acquired last July along with Reilly Smith from Boston for forward Jimmy Hayes.
The 38-year-old has not played due to concussion issues since 2011 and has another year remaining on a front-loaded seven-year, $28.1 Million deal. The contract is very friendly for a rebuilding team like New Jersey, who has only five forwards signed for next season. Savard’s cap hit is nearly $3.5 Million more than the $575,000 salary and will help the Devils (who have almost $30 Million is cap space) reach the cap floor.
A deal of this type is possible for the Toronto Maple Leafs, but they do not have any players who have such a wide disparity between cap hit and actual salary and have enough flexibility to make trades or potentially spend big money in free agency for Steven Stamkos
The cap hit for veterans Brooks Laich, Jonathan Bernier and Milan Michalek(all entering the final year of their contracts) is on par or within $500,000 of their actual salary, but the final year of Stephane Robidas has a salary of $2 Million with a $3 Million cap hit.
The most curious situation is Joffrey Lupul’s contract, which has two years remaining. The 32 year old forward played just 46 games last season and his 2016-17 salary is on par with the $5.25 Million cap hit, but that amount goes down to $3.75 Million in the final year of the contract.
The decreasing salary could make Lupul slightly more attractive on the trade market as part of a larger deal or could be a factor if the Leafs decide to exercise a buyout later this month.
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