Tim Thomas To Take A Year Off !?

[Vanflyer]

Boston should buy him out and move on

Truthfully, I see an Avery move coming up if they can not trade him. Since his NMC expries on July 1, they can send him to the minors and then suspend him (so he doesn't poison the young kids on the farm). There is the outside chance that he could get claimed off waivers, but so what. Boston surely would like to get something in return, but aside from that and sending him to the AHL and suspending him, having someone claim him off waivers would remove their headache.

[OzFlyer]

I feel that his actions simply reflect his politics. Every man for themself!

[JackStraw]

Truthfully, I see an Avery move coming up if they can not trade him. Since his NMC expries on July 1, they can send him to the minors and then suspend him (so he doesn't poison the young kids on the farm). There is the outside chance that he could get claimed off waivers, but so what. Boston surely would like to get something in return, but aside from that and sending him to the AHL and suspending him, having someone claim him off waivers would remove their headache.

His is an over 35 contract, so even if they waive him they're still stuck with the cap hit. Unless he can be traded or claimed off waivers the Bruins are on the hook.

[Vanflyer]

@JackStraw

I knew there had to be a catch. I thought with the over 35 that if the player retired that the team was on the hook. I had to go look it up. What about buyout? Can they buy him out with Boston still being on the hook for 2/3 of the contract??

[JackStraw]

@JackStraw

I knew there had to be a catch. I thought with the over 35 that if the player retired that the team was on the hook. I had to go look it up. What about buyout? Can they buy him out with Boston still being on the hook for 2/3 of the contract??

Not sure what happens with a buyout.

[Vanflyer]

@JackStraw

I had to go look it up using Capgeek.com. I just started to understand it. There appears to be a proration formula that separates the capital hit (ie. salary) and the cap hit. The rules between the two seem to be separate.

Since this is the last year of the Thomas contract, the cap hit can not be prorated. However, it appears that there is some sort of rule that allows prorating of the salary- at least according to Capgeek.com

http://www.capgeek.com/buyout_calculator.php?player_id=236&buyout_y=2012&buyout_m=06&buyout_d=15

As you can see, Bruins have to absorb the 5m cap hit no matter what. However, he is only owed 3m in salary for this year of his contract and the bruins are allowed to spread that out over the next two years (1m this year and 1m next year = 2/3 of the value of the contract).

It is a good thing to keep in mind with Breezy. His current contract is worth 41m. It appears that the proration formula is double the terms left on the contract. Breezy has 8 years left so both capital / salary and cap hit are prorated over that term. However it also looks like there are two years where "balloon" payments are due (or a balloon payment is due at some point).

I have long held the contention that Bryzgalov is moveable after three years and this now (at least under current CBA) supports my cause even more. Almost half of his salary will have been paid after year 2013-2014. If he is miserable, the Flyers are miserable with him, OR both, there are two options:

1) Trade him to a basement cap team. They get cap relief and if they need to buyout, the damage is not intrusive on the capital side.

2) Buy him out.

There is the stigma that if you screw a player over a long term contract like that, that future players will not want to come to play. But if Breezy sucks for three years while collecting 25m, I doubt that would be a deterrent for ANY player.

At the end of the day, under the current CBA, we are not STUCK with Bryz and we have to stop talking like that.