You can't blame the Canadians for throwing the money his way, he is their best skater. High end players are getting what is due to them. If you are going to take care of them, GM's (armchair and otherwise) you have to be very leary of the Bolland like contracts and make some steals like DK.

It seems to me, the new cap era will ultimately cause teams to have an upper class (the super rich-if they can obtain them) the lower class (entry level/and or bench warmers) and lower middle class (under paid 4-8 year vets) or with the lack of high end talent a upper middle class (over paid - good/average performance playes) and a mix of lesser classes. Bottom line is a team may not be able to support more than three top skaters.

Which also brings me to a question, in fantasy hockey leagues is there cap constraints? I've never really joined one but have been considering it for fun.
- Cup-Bearer

I was talking strictly cap hit. I was commenting on the not-quite apples to apples comparison between Markov + Subban vs DK + Seabs + Hammer cap hits Wiz cited.

In the first salary cap era, there were no hard limits on term length or ratio of highest years' salary to lowest years' salary. Hence the "circumventing the cap" issue this past CBA negotiation cycle. While Hoss' contract at 12 yrs and a 7.9:1 Max/Min ratio was flagged as circumventing the cap, Duncs' wasn't that far behind. His 13 year deal has a 5.3:1 Max/Min ratio.

If the old CBA were in place, you can bet Subban's cap hit would not be $9M. I can't comment on whether or not the Habs would have spent $72M total. He's 25 now so it could be argued - again under the old system - his deal would be something along the lines of Hoss or Duncs, 12-13 years. Spreading $72M over 12-13 years yields a cap hit around $6M.

IIRC, the Max/Min ratio now can not exceed 2.0 and there is also the 8-yr max term resigning your own guys.

EDIT: These are Subban's yearly salaries. Note the Max/Min ratio, just over 1.5.

2014-15 $7,000,000
2015-16 $7,000,000
2016-17 $11,000,000
2017-18 $11,000,000
2018-19 $10,000,000
2019-20 $10,000,000
2020-21 $8,000,000
2021-22 $8,000,000

http://capgeek.com/player/1074

I was talking strictly cap hit. I was commenting on the not-quite apples to apples comparison between Markov + Subban vs DK + Seabs + Hammer cap hits Wiz cited.

In the first salary cap era, there were no hard limits on term length or ratio of highest years' salary to lowest years' salary. Hence the "circumventing the cap" issue this past CBA negotiation cycle. While Hoss' contract at 12 yrs and a 7.9:1 Max/Min ratio was flagged as circumventing the cap, Duncs' wasn't that far behind. His 13 year deal has a 5.3:1 Max/Min ratio.

If the old CBA were in place, you can bet Subban's cap hit would not be $9M. I can't comment on whether or not the Habs would have spent $72M total. He's 25 now so it could be argued - again under the old system - his deal would be something along the lines of Hoss or Duncs, 12-13 years. Spreading $72M over 12-13 years yields a cap hit around $6M.

IIRC, the Max/Min ratio now can not exceed 2.0 and there is also the 8-yr max term resigning your own guys.

EDIT: These are Subban's yearly salaries. Note the Max/Min ratio, just over 1.5.

2014-15 $7,000,000
2015-16 $7,000,000
2016-17 $11,000,000
2017-18 $11,000,000
2018-19 $10,000,000
2019-20 $10,000,000
2020-21 $8,000,000
2021-22 $8,000,000

http://capgeek.com/player/1074
- blackhawk24

Assuming those numbers are correct (I don't doubt you, I'm just too lazy to check myself), that is one of the oddest contracts I've seen. Pretty much every top line contract seems to be designed to get the player as much cash as soon as possible.

wow. Slow news on our Blackhawks. This just feels like a growing problem. Hawks are a couple million $$ over the cap. They have several really valuable players to trade in Oduya, Leddy, Sharp, and some lesser pieces of interesting value. But it seems to me that every day we read about some team signing a player or otherwise resolves some situation on their roster. And every day where someone sets more of their roster is a small loss of trade leverage and options. Feels to me like the trigger should have been pulled at the time they signed the two big boys. Feels like they will give someone away for less than fair value to get into compliance. I have faith in StanBow, but worried just a bit. And soooo quiet. Not a rumor to be had to indicate any activity.

wow. Slow news on our Blackhawks. This just feels like a growing problem. Hawks are a couple million $$ over the cap. They have several really valuable players to trade in Oduya, Leddy, Sharp, and some lesser pieces of interesting value. But it seems to me that every day we read about some team signing a player or otherwise resolves some situation on their roster. And every day where someone sets more of their roster is a small loss of trade leverage and options. Feels to me like the trigger should have been pulled at the time they signed the two big boys. Feels like they will give someone away for less than fair value to get into compliance. I have faith in StanBow, but worried just a bit. And soooo quiet. Not a rumor to be had to indicate any activity.
- Cmonalready

It seems that many of the signings are of their own free agents.

And it seems that in these summer months, teams feel pretty good about their rosters, waiting to see what happens in the camps, when skaters fall out of favor, and opportunities arise for Stan to make some deals.

Probably better returns on October 1 than on August 1.

I hope....