The Winnipeg Jets aren’t Spending $$- Why?
Sometimes you have to look at the bigger picture to discover nuances and details that are not readily apparent. In this case it was comment from James Mirtle that got me looking at the salary situation of teams. He was on TSN 1290 in Winnipeg a few days ago, providing his usually excellent insight, as he mentioned where the Jets were in the salary cap hierarchy of the NHL- 3rd last.
RIght now the Winnipeg Jets sit with 12 million in cap space for this season. That’s a lot and it’s probably not because of the Canadian dollar. While its not clearly known how Jets co-owner David Thomson’s billions work their way towards the team assume he’s got enough money to cover currency arbitrage.
With a .90 Canadian dollar the Jets payroll would be 68,551,450 in Canadian dollars based on a very generous exchange rate. At the current .76 mark versus the greenback the payroll difference is 79, 289,155 in Canadian dollars. I may be optimistic in my thinking but I would wager that the 5th Baron of Fleet as the 25th richest person on earth can handle that 11 million slip.
Perhaps it’s next year. Take all the existing contracts the Jets have on the books for next year Jets Cap and do the following:
Add 6.2 million for Ladd and Byfuglien as they take identical deals Add 3.8 million for Schiefele (which may be low) Add 2.0 million for Lowry Keep Halischuk at 750k Keep Fraseer at 650k Keep a spot at 2.0 for Clitsome replacement Keep a spot at 1.05 for Harrison replacement Keep a spot at 1.0 for Pardy replacement Add Trouba at 5.0 million (which may be low)
Before there is even another goalie slotted in to back up or displace Pavelec in his final year the Jets are at 69.23 million in cap space. It disappears quickly and thus do savings matter now knowing expenditures are coming?
If you go to THIS LINK you will see the top end of the cap and it’s brought with teams in dicey cap situations. There’s no reason to think a deal is imminent between the Jets and one of the cap-strapped teams but… it does not mean there isn’t some talk going on, even if it amounts to nothing.
Teams only have three ways to create cap space, buy out a player (which has to happen before July 1), waive a player and only get back 900k of space, or trade a player. Injuries do create ‘artificial cap space’ but I’m not going to suggest teams are creating cap space by injuring players, at least not yet. With the Gary Lawless tweet saying that the Jets and representatives for Buff and Ladd have not spoken for some time it raises questions amongst fans. Are the Jets going to make a deal and who has the cap problems to make a deal with the Jets?
The problem of needing cap space and the benefit of having it are rarely linking teams together- it just looks nice. Trades and roster moves are still based on best fits and who can make the numbers work. There are teams who have to make some numbers ‘work’ and until the Jets extend Buff and Ladd or trade one of both, those two players and the Jets are going to be linked with many cap-strapped teams.
Regardless it still doesn’t explain or shed light on when the Jets will start spending money though. To trade one or both of those players to a higher cap-spending team means something at least equal or greater salary is coming back. The balancing act continues but it’s not about the cap yet, more so two of the player the Jets may decide to keep or trade.