Jets UFA Day Recap
The insiders were pretty much bang on about their reads on the what the Jets would likely do, that was signing Steve Mason and Dmitry Kulikov as additions to shore up goaltending and defence. The Jets also added depth in the AHL by signing Michael Sgarbossa and Buddy Robinson as depth players likely to start with the Moose.
Both Mason and Kulikov have said all the right things about coming to Winnipeg. Fresh chances, a team going in the right direction, impact they can have and the usual cliches but that’s to be expected. Looking deeper is there any possibility to some upside with either player?
Mason has a 2 year deal worth 4.1 million in each year. He comes from a situation in Philadelphia that was not good by the accounts of many who know the team. This they feel is that proverbial ‘fresh chance or change of scenery’ that Mason needs. However, there are words of caution and hopefully something the Jets and Mason understand, he has not excelled in situation where he has split duty. He needs to have a defined role and that role is usually as the preferred number one goalie.
This issue could be problematic for the Jets as it’s well known they see Hellebuyck as the eventual starter but when does that point come? That’s the question that was supposed to be answered last year and now it appears there’s a different question: how does Hellebuyck see his role? Add another onto that, is he prepared for what having Mason means to how Paul Maurice manages the tandem?
Kulikov received another year compared to Mason and with 3 years for 13 million and a cap hit of 4.33 million. That is a steep hit for a player that might be a 5-6 guy at best. As I tweeted out that cap hit puts the Jets at 26.85 million for next season on their blue line for the likely starting 6 defenders add in Ben Chiarot and now you have over 28 million to that blue line with Morrissey on ELC and Trouba in last year of RFA deal.
While Enstrom, Mathias and Chiarot have expiring deals after this season should Trouba be signed he’s likely not taking less than what Fowler has and probably closer to Vlasic. There’s goes the savings and after that the Jets need to sign Ehlers, Little, Petan, Lowry, and Dano while knowing there could be a huge pay day coming for Laine.
The Jets sit with just over 10 million in space right now with Copp, Tanev, and Hellebuyck to be signed so let’s drop that cap space to 6-ish million. It’s going to be tight particularly if there is an internal cap/budget but I think that is overblown and a more of a floating item.
If Trouba and Morriseey combine for 10 million in salary and Enstrom re-signs for something cheaper around 2 million the cap hit change is like close to a 3 million dollar swing up. Now if Little gets a raise, as do a few others that cap space cushion becomes tighter and is it something the Jets want to do?
Trouba 7 milllion vs 2.812 Morrissey 3 million vs .833 Enstorm 2 million vs 5.75
It’s not a dangerous situation but is seems a marked departure from where they were before in their process and views. Myers will have a new deal after next season as well and how is that valued if one looks forward?
The bigger point here is the top players need minutes and there’s a lot of money tied up on defensemen and it seems hard to see the Jets moving forward without making a trade of some sort. They can certainly manage this cap and salaries but based on past history it seems way out of of their typical modus operandi.
Now if the cap goes up, they may well be within their comfort zone but again where does the economics of it all fit together. That’s something we cannot be too sure about because again their internal cap hit has always been a moving limit depending situation/year.
Take away the salary cap juggling and ask a different question, is this the coaching staff that is worth gambling on that level of allocation? Is the defensive system and the transition attack under Maurice and his cohorts good enough to make this gamble? That’s a tough one to answer right now and it’s likely something we’ll find out this fall.
If you had to give Chevy a grade I’d say it’s a sold B. He addressed to holes but paid a heavy price in terms of salary and of course risk. As he said in his presser today though, they are cap team but that means the stakes get higher too. Is he the guy you want at the table when it gets this serious? Given his contract status I think owner Mark Chipman is having some similar thoughts.