They may not need to trade Hossa's contract. But if they do not trade it they cannot use the space until after the season starts. And they have the same situation next summer and the summer after that. If they can move it for let' say a 3rd round pick this summer, a 4th round pick next summer and a 5th round pick the following summer I would think you would do it. The Hawks pick up $5.275 mil in cap space that they can actually use during the summer for the next 3 summers, save $3 mil in salary over the next 3 years, and give up 3 mid to late round picks.
The next argument we will hear from posters (like Bingo) is that teams will not trade for the pick because they are already at the floor. They are missing the point. The cap ceiling is what you need to look at. Let's say the cap ceiling is $80 mil. There are plenty of small market low revenue teams that will keep their salary under $75 mil because anything more than that would be economically unfeasible to operate the club. So they take on Hossa's $5.275 cap hit, they only pay $1mil salary per year for the next 3 years and pick up 3 draft picks.
I am not saying it will go down like this but it could.
- -Doh-
I’m sorry Doh but with respect your reading of this is incorrect. No other team above the floor would trade for the Hossa contract to further fill the Cap and certainly not to get to the ceiling. A team, already spending near the ceiling would presumably want that available Cap space for an actual player or actual players. There is absolutely no benefit to that team in doing that - none. There is only a benefit to a team that wishes to save actual money and reach the floor. The issue of assets then - the Hawks are not going to give away assets, of any value, to move the Hossa contract so whether a team has Cap space available or not, the Hawks are not going to give assets of any value. The LTIR system is a bit inconvenient and seems to have been written by squirrels but it is not rocket science for the teams involved with it. These teams simply deal with it.
This is not like the Datsyuk situation where there was no Cap relief possible for Detroit. The Hawks get Cap relief for the entirety of Hossa’s contract under the LTIR system. I am not saying that it is impossible for a trade, as you describe, to occur but the Hawks would give up very little or bury the contract in a bigger trade, as the moving of the Hossa contract would only be to gain convenience.
As an aside, NHL teams pretending that dealing with the Cap is incredibly difficult are full of it - it is the most basic accounting. Capologists - give me a break. I do more difficult balancing with my grocery budget.
