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Washington Capitals Blogger •
Money in the Bank
Following Gary Bettman's 'State of the Hockey Nation', as he addressed the NHLPA and all 30 team reps on Saturday in Las Vegas, some very interesting information regarding what we may be looking at, as far as a Salary Cap figure for '09/10, has started to come out.
Following his 2 hour sit-down with the reps and the PA, we have gathered these insights towards how much each team will be allowed to spend as of July 1st of this summer.
What is clear now is that the Salary Cap figure will only be decided once the players enact their vote on what is known as the "Salary Cap Inflator".
It is a vote that allows the players the opportunity to have their say on what the Cap will be the following season.
All 30 team reps have the opportunity, and are more or less required, to vote on the possible 5% inflator. Enabling this 5% Inflator would allow the Salary Cap to remain the same or, on the off-chance, increase(all but impossible).
Here is what Pierre Lebrun has to say on the matter;
According to Lebrun's comments, the NHL(it appears) is set to either lower the Cap or keep it the same. Yet, at the same time, it seems like the Salary Cap has unofficially been lowered.
Lebrun states "But if the players vote no, the cap would be in the $54 million range."
From my understanding, as it stands, that means that Salary Cap is no longer $56.7 million.
If enacting the "Salary Cap Inflator" is meant to allow the NHL to increase the Cap by upwards of 5%, how does that not allow the League to bump the Cap beyond the '08/09 limit?
Reading between the lines, I understand it as the NHL's Salary Cap has already been reduced to somewhere in the $55 million range. Otherwise, enacting a 5% Inflator to the Salary Cap would mean an increase on top of the $56.7 million, correct?
TSN has a more ambiguous take on how things went down;
Whatever the case may be, the final number for the Salary Cap will be decided in the upcoming week, following the completion of the 5% Inflator vote, which apparently has until Tuesday.
In a similar situation in 2007, the NHL and its Player Union decided not to enact the Inflator clause;
The Inflator will play a MAJOR role on this summer's Free Agent market as well as the upcoming Draft.
If you had been wondering why there has been no major movement or why the rumours have yet to really pick up, well, there is your answer.
Not until all the General Managers are fully aware of how much cash they have to spend for next year will they be able to commit anything towards their players.
So, no matter what people want to tell you, the NHL's Salary Cap has already decreased from the the 2008-2009 season marker of $56.7 million dollars.
If they NHLPA decides to enact the 5% Inflator, the League Salary will remain at(or around)$56.7 million dollars.
Just in case you were wondering, 2% of $56.7 million is $1.134 million.(Not $2 million as TSN suggests, but then again, TSN may know alot more about the details than we do).
So, if you're keeping track, that means that (if as Lebrun says "if the players vote no, the cap will drop to $54 million"), the Cap has unofficially dropped between said $54 million and last season's $56.7 million.
I currently have the Cap in the range of(56.7 - 1.134=) $55,566,000.00.
Engaging the Inflator keeps the Cap hit status quo, declining to use it means there will be less money available for those seeking contracts this summer.
Summary
The NHL's Salary Cap for 2009-2010 has already dropped(reading between the lines of Lebrun's article). Only if the player reps decide to vote in favor of enacting the 5% Inflator clause will it remain at the mark of(or in the range of) $56.7 million, set for the 2008-2009 season.
I will admit that I was never much of a math guru, but if the consensus agreement is that even if the NHLPA includes the 5% inflator, the Salary Cap for 2009-2010 can and will not eclipse last season's mark, than you can already assume that the Cap is lower.
It's a safe bet that the players and the League will be in favor of including the 5% Inflator this season in order to keep things status quo, with an eye towards ever-increasing profits and exposure in the near future.
I am all but certain that the cap will be $56.7 million, give or take a few hundred-thousand dollars.
Good news or bad news?
Whatever the case is, the votes must be in by tomorrow.
Once those are in, it will only be a matter of time before the Final Cap Total is announced.
steven.hindle@hockeybuzz.com
capitalshockeybuzz@live.ca
Go Caps!!!!!
Following Gary Bettman's 'State of the Hockey Nation', as he addressed the NHLPA and all 30 team reps on Saturday in Las Vegas, some very interesting information regarding what we may be looking at, as far as a Salary Cap figure for '09/10, has started to come out.
Following his 2 hour sit-down with the reps and the PA, we have gathered these insights towards how much each team will be allowed to spend as of July 1st of this summer.
What is clear now is that the Salary Cap figure will only be decided once the players enact their vote on what is known as the "Salary Cap Inflator".
It is a vote that allows the players the opportunity to have their say on what the Cap will be the following season.
All 30 team reps have the opportunity, and are more or less required, to vote on the possible 5% inflator. Enabling this 5% Inflator would allow the Salary Cap to remain the same or, on the off-chance, increase(all but impossible).
Here is what Pierre Lebrun has to say on the matter;
"We have a system in place that allows us to get the vote fairly quickly," said NHL Players' Association executive director Paul Kelly. "All of our reps were here when we had our initial executive board meeting on Thursday. We discussed this growth-factor issue in great length. We discussed it again in the meetings."
The 5 percent inflator is a right the players have in the collective bargaining agreement to tack on to the salary-cap figure for the following season. If the players' executive board (30 player reps) vote yes on the inflator, the NHL's salary cap will be in the $56 million range for next season, almost unchanged from this season's figure of $56.7 million. But if the players vote no, the cap would be in the $54 million range.
- ESPN:http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?entryID=4275177&name=lebrun_pierre
According to Lebrun's comments, the NHL(it appears) is set to either lower the Cap or keep it the same. Yet, at the same time, it seems like the Salary Cap has unofficially been lowered.
Lebrun states "But if the players vote no, the cap would be in the $54 million range."
From my understanding, as it stands, that means that Salary Cap is no longer $56.7 million.
If enacting the "Salary Cap Inflator" is meant to allow the NHL to increase the Cap by upwards of 5%, how does that not allow the League to bump the Cap beyond the '08/09 limit?
Reading between the lines, I understand it as the NHL's Salary Cap has already been reduced to somewhere in the $55 million range. Otherwise, enacting a 5% Inflator to the Salary Cap would mean an increase on top of the $56.7 million, correct?
TSN has a more ambiguous take on how things went down;
One thing that wasn't officially decided here was whether the players will enact the five-per-cent inflator on the salary cap -- a decision that will affect next year's number by US$2 million.
Secret ballots were cast by the player representatives in attendance but there wasn't enough of them to register a binding result. Missing players have until Tuesday to register their vote.
- TSN: http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=282356
Whatever the case may be, the final number for the Salary Cap will be decided in the upcoming week, following the completion of the 5% Inflator vote, which apparently has until Tuesday.
In a similar situation in 2007, the NHL and its Player Union decided not to enact the Inflator clause;
"As stipulated in the collective agreement, a five per cent “inflator” automatically gets tacked on top of the figure that the league and union accountants calculate from hockey-related revenues of over US$2.1 billion - unless the NHLPA and NHL agree to do otherwise. Last summer both sides agreed to zero per cent inflation instead of five per cent, the union worried about having to pay back owners in escrow payments if they earned more than their allotted share.
…
Without the five per cent inflator, the salary cap would stand at a little more than US$48 million next season. If the player reps vote to keep the five per cent inflator, then the cap likely stands at more than US$50 million."
The Inflator will play a MAJOR role on this summer's Free Agent market as well as the upcoming Draft.
If you had been wondering why there has been no major movement or why the rumours have yet to really pick up, well, there is your answer.
Not until all the General Managers are fully aware of how much cash they have to spend for next year will they be able to commit anything towards their players.
So, no matter what people want to tell you, the NHL's Salary Cap has already decreased from the the 2008-2009 season marker of $56.7 million dollars.
If they NHLPA decides to enact the 5% Inflator, the League Salary will remain at(or around)$56.7 million dollars.
Just in case you were wondering, 2% of $56.7 million is $1.134 million.(Not $2 million as TSN suggests, but then again, TSN may know alot more about the details than we do).
So, if you're keeping track, that means that (if as Lebrun says "if the players vote no, the cap will drop to $54 million"), the Cap has unofficially dropped between said $54 million and last season's $56.7 million.
I currently have the Cap in the range of(56.7 - 1.134=) $55,566,000.00.
Engaging the Inflator keeps the Cap hit status quo, declining to use it means there will be less money available for those seeking contracts this summer.
Summary
The NHL's Salary Cap for 2009-2010 has already dropped(reading between the lines of Lebrun's article). Only if the player reps decide to vote in favor of enacting the 5% Inflator clause will it remain at the mark of(or in the range of) $56.7 million, set for the 2008-2009 season.
I will admit that I was never much of a math guru, but if the consensus agreement is that even if the NHLPA includes the 5% inflator, the Salary Cap for 2009-2010 can and will not eclipse last season's mark, than you can already assume that the Cap is lower.
It's a safe bet that the players and the League will be in favor of including the 5% Inflator this season in order to keep things status quo, with an eye towards ever-increasing profits and exposure in the near future.
I am all but certain that the cap will be $56.7 million, give or take a few hundred-thousand dollars.
Good news or bad news?
Whatever the case is, the votes must be in by tomorrow.
Once those are in, it will only be a matter of time before the Final Cap Total is announced.
steven.hindle@hockeybuzz.com
capitalshockeybuzz@live.ca
Go Caps!!!!!
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