Let's start the week with an odd leftover from the season we wish we could forget.
Information on #Canucks face $315,000 bonus cap-hit carryover for 2016-17- https://t.co/vfkvCyBcbI for @CanucksArmy pic.twitter.com/mUCRwsweKY
— Ryan Biech (@ryanbiech) June 6, 2016
Ryan Biech breaks down those bonuses, which were paid to four players: Bo Horvat received a bonus for his 1404:51 of ice time over 82 games—second among Canucks forwards behind Daniel Sedin and 71st in the league. Ben Hutton received a bonus for playing 75 games, and Andrey Pedan and Markus Granlund also received games-played bonuses. Pedan suited up for 13 games while Granlund played 31 games with the Calgary Flames before his trade, then 16 with the Vancouver Canucks.
I've just discovered this page on the CapFriendly website, which diagram's every player's status for the entire season in graphical form.
I wasn't clear on why the Canucks couldn't have used more of their buffer from long-term injured reserve during the season to help clear these bonus overages, but DragLikePull of The Leafs Nation has the answer.
LTIR relief can only be used during the regular season when teams are at the cap ceiling, which I suspect is the reason why we see stretches where Dan Hamhuis and Alex Edler weren't on LTIR—the cap relief wasn't needed at those times. In the end, CapFriendly says the Canucks only used $1.6 million of their available LTIR cushion to stay cap compliant, but they did use all their available cap space by the end of the year.
That's when the performance bonuses are applied. From DragLikePull:
Performance bonuses are not counted against the salary cap until the end of a season. As long as a team has enough cap room to cover any bonuses they owe, that's not a problem. But any team that spends to the upper limit has any bonuses above that amount applied to their salary cap in the following season. Since teams must be at the upper limit to activate the LTIR exception to the salary cap, that means any team that uses LTIR and has any of its players hit performance bonuses is going to have those bonuses applied to the cap the next season.
Voila. That's why $315,000 is charged against the cap next season.
It's not a huge number and the Canucks do currently have cap space available, but it's another little ding that could impact the team's ability to sign players or make roster moves heading into the 2016-17 season.
Could spending limitations curtail the Canucks' opportunity to go after Milan Lucic? Over in Edmonton, Jonathan Willis argues that Lucic is already a player in decline and that the Oilers and Canucks would be saved from themselves if Lucic re-signs in Los Angeles.
Best-case scenario for #Oilers, #Canucks would be if Lucic re-signed long-term with #LAKings: https://t.co/f2rhEAYqn6
— Jonathan Willis (@JonathanWillis) June 4, 2016
Support for bringing in Lucic as a Canuck was split almost exactly down the middle in my poll over the weekend. Loui Eriksson got more votes, both individually and head-to-head. But the likelihood of Lucic remaining with the Kings after July 1 is looking slimmer with each passing day.
Gerry Johansson, the agent for ufa and Vancouver native Milan Lucic says there has been no talks with the Kings of late. #Canucks
— NEWS 1130 Sports (@NEWS1130Sports) June 6, 2016
Johansson : "Milan Lucic would love to re-sign with Kings but is preparing for July 1st as well." #Canucks
— NEWS 1130 Sports (@NEWS1130Sports) June 6, 2016
The Kings did complete another contract over the weekend, re-upping defenceman Brayden McNabb for another two seasons.
Linden Vey's Father Found Guilty
One final news tidbit to wrap up today. On Sunday, a jury found Linden Vey's father Curtis and his paramour Angela Nicholson guilty of conspiracy to commit the murders of their respective spouses.
Saskatchewan couple who plotted to kill spouses found guilty: https://t.co/UJnFNxlcqO
— CBC News Alerts (@CBCAlerts) June 6, 2016
It's a sad conclusion to a bizarre tale, which must have weighed heavily on Vey over the past two seasons. Hopefully some closure will help him to get his feet back under him and start the healing process.