Who would you protect in the coming expansion draft?

[J0e Th0rnton]

I just had another funny thought.

 

In a salary cap world, how the heck are expansion draft teams supposed to make the cap floor? Are they given a few years of pity?

Obviously, other than guys like Clarkson's horrible contract, how are they going to draft guys to make the cap floor from merely the unprotected?

[jammer2]

@J0e Th0rnton  I would suppose no breaks would be given on the cap floor thingy....they would have to draft some high priced vets with a bit of upside, like Clarkson...and try to make it work in the early years. Of course, the thought of their fairly useless older vets signed to bad deals being scooped up would perk up the ears of any GM's that have made the cardinal sin of investing in crap....and there are quite a few of them. Almost every GM has at least one albatross signing, something we witnessed first hand when the compliance buy outs were used by almost every team.

[jammer2]

@Irishjim  Even though a potential expansion draft is years away, it will not take long to feel the shockwaves. That will start during the free agency period next summer, as GM's weigh the need for veteran scoring and look at a list of prospects who might be lost should they have to many vets signed. This should have direct consequences on the free spending GM's of the league. Risking losing a low cost youngster by signing a high priced vet may finally be the shot of sanity that the UFA period needs so badly.

 

   At the very least, we will see reduced movement, and a lot less veteran depth signings. The stars will still get their cash....that's a given...but the guys down a few notches on the totem pole will suffer, it's almost guaranteed. The biggest drop off will be 7th d-men like our Schultz signing, they will simply go with the best up and comer rather than commit a valued spot in the protection scheme.

[Irishjim]

Assuming that we're looking at expansion in two years (summer 2016), here's how I would go. With the current forward core, the Flyers are pretty much trapped into only protecting one goalie. I'm assuming players with NMC/NTCs will need to be protected, and that RFAs will be re-signed:

 

Goalie (1):

 

Protect: Mason

 

Exposed: Stolarz, Zepp

 

Defense (5):

 

Protect: Coburn (UFA), Pronger, Hagg, Gostisbehere, MacDonald/Alt

 

Exposed: Schenn (UFA), Grossmann (UFA), Streit, MacDonald/Alt

 

Hagg and Ghost are going to have two pro years under their belts. Coburn is currently the Flyers' best Dman. Pronger has an NMC. There's one spot left for MacDonald, Alt or someone else that may come along.

 

Forwards (9):

 

Protect: Giroux, Lecavalier, Simmonds, Umberger, Voracek, Couturier, Schenn, Read, Laughton  

 

Exposed: Raffl, Akeson, Rinaldo, Cousins, Leier

 

Umberger and Vinny's NMCs hurt, because the Flyers will be forced to protect them, and make decisions regarding Akeson, Raffl, Schenn, Read, and Laughton. I kept the players I felt have the best upside (Schenn, Read, Laughton), but I'd rather move or buy out Vinny and Umberger after this season if Akeson and Raffl shine and keep all five.

ok this is cheeky..but can you sign a guy to a limited NMC(say 2 years) of say a 5 year contract or is that the length of the deal. i'm just fishing for loopholes

[Irishjim]

I just had another funny thought.

 

In a salary cap world, how the heck are expansion draft teams supposed to make the cap floor? Are they given a few years of pity?

Obviously, other than guys like Clarkson's horrible contract, how are they going to draft guys to make the cap floor from merely the unprotected?

they would sign the likes of brooks orpik to stupid deals ala the caps..hall gill has one last chance of a pay day

[J0e Th0rnton]

@J0e Th0rnton  I would suppose no breaks would be given on the cap floor thingy....they would have to draft some high priced vets with a bit of upside, like Clarkson...and try to make it work in the early years. Of course, the thought of their fairly useless older vets signed to bad deals being scooped up would perk up the ears of any GM's that have made the cardinal sin of investing in crap....and there are quite a few of them. Almost every GM has at least one albatross signing, something we witnessed first hand when the compliance buy outs were used by almost every team.

 

I still don't see how they could hit the cap floor.

 

Realistically, there are only a few of those albatross contracts out there. Assuming each team protects 9 forwards, 5 defensemen and a goalie, they are left to pick from a few albatross contracts and mostly 4th line grinders who make league minimum-2 million a year, and 6th/7th defensemen, who make around the same.

 

The cap floor is what, 54 mil? So they get 10x2 million dollar forwards, an unprotected 4-6 million dollar forward like Clarkson or Lecavalier or Richards and 4 million dollar forward like Bickell, six 2x million dollar defensemen and one 4-5 million dollar Dman, a goalie like Pavelec who makes 4 million.

 

That is still only 52 million and that is unrealistic. And most of these forwards and defensemen will not be 2 million dollar forwards. Most will be making just north of league minimum. A lot of guys will be prospects they snag from other teams unprotected with 2 years pro experience on ELC's.

 

Some consessions would need to be made for them to have time to make the cap

[flyercanuck]

I still don't see how they could hit the cap floor.

 

Realistically, there are only a few of those albatross contracts out there. Assuming each team protects 9 forwards, 5 defensemen and a goalie, they are left to pick from a few albatross contracts and mostly 4th line grinders who make league minimum-2 million a year, and 6th/7th defensemen, who make around the same.

 

The cap floor is what, 54 mil? So they get 10x2 million dollar forwards, an unprotected 4-6 million dollar forward like Clarkson or Lecavalier or Richards and 4 million dollar forward like Bickell, six 2x million dollar defensemen and one 4-5 million dollar Dman, a goalie like Pavelec who makes 4 million.

 

That is still only 52 million and that is unrealistic. And most of these forwards and defensemen will not be 2 million dollar forwards. Most will be making just north of league minimum. A lot of guys will be prospects they snag from other teams unprotected with 2 years pro experience on ELC's.

 

Some consessions would need to be made for them to have time to make the cap

 

Hire Paul Holmgren just to do contracts...they won't have to worry about hitting the floor

[AJgoal]

The CBA has something in it exempting new and relocated teams from revenue sharing for a couple of years. I would guess that the cap floor is included in there somewhere, but I don't have time to look it up.

 

And There's nothing I'm aware of that says an NMC/NTC has to last the whole contract. Umberger is a perfect example. He had a limited NTC that turns into a full NTC after a few years, so I'm sure the length of the NTC/NMC could be less than the whole contract length.

[Jam1986]

Just Dumb don't need any more teams! Move some teams around sounds better. Panthers,Devils,Ariz and Ducks.

[jammer2]

@Jam1986  I'm down for 3 of the 4, but I like the Ducks in Anaheim. The Devils, it would be sad to see them go, but the bottom line is, hockey is not profitable in New Jersey. They can drag it on all they like, but eventually the owner will lose enough cash that it will be a no go.