I started this post by saying "I think you are spot on," then I looked at the numbers again and I'm not so sure. Even with burying Huet, I think the Hawks are still in a tough spot cap wise.
With Huet's 5.6 cleared up, signing Hjalmarsson at 3 and Niemi at 5, which I think are best case scenarios, only leaves the Hawks with 3 mil to sign 8 players. The league min will be .525 mil next year, it doesn't add up. This assumes the rumor about the 58.8 mil cap is true.
In my opinion, I think the Hawks will let Hjalmarsson go and earmark the money for Seabrook, who is going to demand another 4 mil at the end of this coming season. In the mean time, that buys the Hawks a little breathing room to fill their roster.
This following commentary is unfair, but cap aside, this was a terrible trade for the Hawks. They picked up a *late* first and a *late* second. Anyone they draft is likely years away from contributing, let alone developing into a player of Byfuglien's mold and caliber.
I agree in the sense that ~2 mil for a 20/20 guy is very reasonable. Whether it was the right move for the Wings is another story. I tend to like it - he's durable and has never scored under 40 points in a season.
I'm not trying to be combative here, but the salary cap is calculated by the combined revenue of the NHL teams and has nothing to do with player salaries. It is still yet to be determined how the NHL's ownership of Pheonix will play into this calculation. It was repoted by Elliotte Friedman this fall than owners excepted a 5-10 mil cap decrease. This number was revised in the winter to a 0-1 mil decrease. If the cap decreases, players salaries are scaled down by the percentage of the decrease. We should know the 2011 cap within the next few weeks.
Also, this isn't the NFL where you can cut a player and not pay him. The NHL has guaranteed salaries. If you buyout a player, it still counts against the cap, but is spread over twice as many years as remaining on the contract.
It's not a dire situation, though Chicago clearly has the worst cap situation in the league.
Locking up Hossa was a bad move imo. It's created a tricky cap situation that's more likely to cripple the Hawks rather than sustain their momentum.
To backup what rick said, depending how bonuses work out, the Hawks have negative to no cap space to sign half their team. To fill a roster, you can get around the cap with bonus based salaries, but the following year you take a cap hit equal to realized salaries - cap.
The Hawks have 11 players up for free agency, including Niemi. If Kane and Toews hit their bonuses for this season, which I believe they did, and the Hawks don't resign any of the 11 free agents, they still need to clear ~2.5 mil of cap space. This is due to Kane and Toews each receiving ~5.5 mil raises and for Duncan Keith ~6 mil. Next year, they will pay 5 of the top 40 salaries and 3 of the top 20. They are almost sure to lose either Byfuglien or Seabrook or both after next year.
There core is top-tier, but they've left themselves with very few options.
This team is chock-full of pussies, no wonder there were so many abortions.
As a Canucks fan, my greatest sports memory is losing to the Rangers in Game 7 of the 94 finals, I can't even imagine what it feels like to be a cubs fan.
Sorry if I was a confusing. It saves them ~1.5 mil in cap space when they cut him in 2011. They could cut him in 2010 with no penalty because, like you said, it is and uncapped year.
Though it has many faults, the number I use to judge how teams stack up when taking a quick look at the standings is goal differential (factors in pp & pk, unlike +/-). Only two teams since 2000 have made the playoffs with a diff of -10 or less, Carolina in 2000 (-13) and Boston in 2007 (-10). The wings are currently sitting at -7. Surprisingly, it's the offense that is lagging last years pace. On ratio, at this point last year the Wings scored 226 goals and allowed 187 for a +39 diff. Through tonight, they scored 165 goals and allowed 172 for a -7 diff.
I'm not sure what to make of their chances. Based on their experience, I want to say they'll make it and I wouldn't want to face them, but these guys are old. The average player is slightly more than 4 years older than one on Chicago or Columbus, maybe they're just wearing out.
I know Gary Bettman has little, if anything, to do with Olypmic hockey rules, but I hate him almost as much as I hated 4 on 4 in the Olympics. I think the rule is to limit the odds of letting a shootout decide the game, but the idea behind it is full of hypocrisy. Let's use the shootout as a last resort because it's not indicative of the game of hockey, but play 4 on 4 because it is?
It's impossible to know the outcome of a 5 on 5 OT, but the 4 on 4 absolutely killed us. Not to take anything away from Ron Wilson, I think he would have played this scheme regardless, but the Slovaks exposed Canada late in there game and we followed suit with two forecheckers and sometimes even the third forward below the dots during regulation. When it came to OT where we couldn't play two men deep, we lost our game and resorted to throwing weak wrist shots on Luongo from the top of the circles with nobody crashing the net. I can't see how our coaching staff thought this was going to win us the game. You can argue it was bad coaching, and it probably was, but I understand why we didn't have anything given the little practice we had as a team, even 5 on 5. Olympic style OT is going to benefit some teams and not others, just like shootouts. I don't see any harm playing 5 on 5 OT, why change the rules?
I think you are spot on, but why do people want to change the rules to induce the end of the game? You don't see baseball drop to 8 players in extra innings because one less fielder is going to make it easier to score - it drastically changes the game.
Great finish. I don't understand why it took 50 min for the slovaks to stop being pussies. They got a strong cycle going once they figured out they could win along the boards. I bet those bennigan's up in canada are going to be swamped next week.
Yeah, it should be a great atmosphere tonight. I'm a little worried about this game because I've seen Michigan get frustrated and struggle against teams like ND who seem to be satisfied with shortening the game to single period by playing boring and systematic defensive hockey.
I was going to post this last night as a new thread, but I don't have enough points.
Shakedown
Michigan (18-16-1, 13-12-1-0 CCHA)
Notre Dame (12-14-8, 8-11-7-2 CCHA)
There is a possible first-round playoff bye at stake. We can finish anywhere between tied for 2nd and 9th, though even 4th (the last place that earns a bye) is a long-shot.
What we need for a bye assuming we take care of business:
* No. 17 Alaska finishes against Anchorage with no better than a tie. Unlikely.
and
* No. 19 Nebraska finishes against No. 6 Bemidji State with no better than a tie. Probable.
and
* Northern finishes against Lake Superior with no better than a win. Unlikely.
ND Cliffs Notes
Callie Ridderwall. He's responsible for almost one out of every four Irish goals this season and is the only guy with double-digits in that department. In my opinion he's a defensive liability, though the Irish are 7-2-2 when he scores. Obviously, my opinion doesn't matter. Ridderwall's also Swedish, so someone should make a sign ripping him in Swedish that only he and Carl would get.
Their best player is probably Billy Maday, who returned last week after missing eight games with a shoulder injury. He didn't do much in the boxscore last week, so he may not be 100%, but there was no reason for the Irish to rush him back. I didn't see him play this year due to the games being on Comcast, though he caught my attention last year as a dangerous playmaker with above-average defensive skills. The Irish are 3-0-2 when he scores.
Game Plan
Limit penalties. It's not that ND has a great PP, in fact it's average at 18.6%, 6th in the CCHA, but that 46.2% of their goals come on the PP.
Pester Ridderwall. He's prone to take bad penalties, so we might as well encourage him to take himself out of the game.
Unfortunately, their PK is impressive at 87.2%, 2nd in the CCHA and only 0.1% behind Miami. If we get behind, I suspect will see a more active defense immediately. This is a little troubling considering how poor our defensive decision making as been most of this season.
Our roster is much deeper than ND, so expect the Caporusso and Treais lines to get more ice time than usual to exploit the advantage over thier Irish counterparts.
I've seen a few ND games on TV against other opponents this year. They have a tendency to spend the first period trapping, the second playing hockey, and the third choking away any lead they had or throwing in the towel.
Result
This team hasn't proven they can rise to any occasion, one win this weekend.
Recent Comments
This is stupid. I have a 4.0 GPA. QED
I started this post by saying "I think you are spot on," then I looked at the numbers again and I'm not so sure. Even with burying Huet, I think the Hawks are still in a tough spot cap wise.
With Huet's 5.6 cleared up, signing Hjalmarsson at 3 and Niemi at 5, which I think are best case scenarios, only leaves the Hawks with 3 mil to sign 8 players. The league min will be .525 mil next year, it doesn't add up. This assumes the rumor about the 58.8 mil cap is true.
In my opinion, I think the Hawks will let Hjalmarsson go and earmark the money for Seabrook, who is going to demand another 4 mil at the end of this coming season. In the mean time, that buys the Hawks a little breathing room to fill their roster.
This following commentary is unfair, but cap aside, this was a terrible trade for the Hawks. They picked up a *late* first and a *late* second. Anyone they draft is likely years away from contributing, let alone developing into a player of Byfuglien's mold and caliber.
2006 team had 6, but only 5 saw significant playing time.
Thuram
Malouda
Makélélé
Vieira
Boumsong
Chimbonda
What? Now France actually has to rely on players from France?!?! :*-{
I agree in the sense that ~2 mil for a 20/20 guy is very reasonable. Whether it was the right move for the Wings is another story. I tend to like it - he's durable and has never scored under 40 points in a season.
What is the "the right thing." He hasn't paid up because the case is still in litigation. Moore's claims are excessive and have ballooned to ~$38 mil.
yes i like
A source close to the situation has told me Brandon's current favorite is Penn State.
I'm not trying to be combative here, but the salary cap is calculated by the combined revenue of the NHL teams and has nothing to do with player salaries. It is still yet to be determined how the NHL's ownership of Pheonix will play into this calculation. It was repoted by Elliotte Friedman this fall than owners excepted a 5-10 mil cap decrease. This number was revised in the winter to a 0-1 mil decrease. If the cap decreases, players salaries are scaled down by the percentage of the decrease. We should know the 2011 cap within the next few weeks.
Also, this isn't the NFL where you can cut a player and not pay him. The NHL has guaranteed salaries. If you buyout a player, it still counts against the cap, but is spread over twice as many years as remaining on the contract.
It's not a dire situation, though Chicago clearly has the worst cap situation in the league.
Locking up Hossa was a bad move imo. It's created a tricky cap situation that's more likely to cripple the Hawks rather than sustain their momentum.
To backup what rick said, depending how bonuses work out, the Hawks have negative to no cap space to sign half their team. To fill a roster, you can get around the cap with bonus based salaries, but the following year you take a cap hit equal to realized salaries - cap.
The Hawks have 11 players up for free agency, including Niemi. If Kane and Toews hit their bonuses for this season, which I believe they did, and the Hawks don't resign any of the 11 free agents, they still need to clear ~2.5 mil of cap space. This is due to Kane and Toews each receiving ~5.5 mil raises and for Duncan Keith ~6 mil. Next year, they will pay 5 of the top 40 salaries and 3 of the top 20. They are almost sure to lose either Byfuglien or Seabrook or both after next year.
There core is top-tier, but they've left themselves with very few options.
This team is chock-full of pussies, no wonder there were so many abortions.
As a Canucks fan, my greatest sports memory is losing to the Rangers in Game 7 of the 94 finals, I can't even imagine what it feels like to be a cubs fan.
Sorry if I was a confusing. It saves them ~1.5 mil in cap space when they cut him in 2011. They could cut him in 2010 with no penalty because, like you said, it is and uncapped year.
In the spirit of fairness, Gholston actually got a raise and fat bonus for this year by accepting a reduced base salary in 2011 and 2012.
Salary Before -> Salary After
$1,900,000(2010) -> $2,250,000 + $4,000,000 "signing" bonus
$2,000,000(2011) -> $555,000 + $2,500,000 roster bonus
$2,000,000(2012) -> $650,000
This saves the Jets ~1.5 mil in cap space next year when they cut this worthless sack of panty waste.