How many teams will be in Cap Crisis mode - and how soon?

Here we are, the Ottawa Senators want to spend 10-15 million in next couple of years on D. But what about Fisher, Heatley, Spezza, Alfie, Volchenkov and Phillips making a combined 30 million dollars.

So? How many other teams are franked?

I can think of Pittsburgh, Boston, Washington, Rangers...in fact, here's a better question:

Which teams are good cap wise - and how long until they're in Crisis Mode? Because they crappier you are, the higher you draft, the better the players, the higher the contracts (I'm talking to you LA).

We're hardly in a cap crisis. Volchenkov and Phillips are on short-term, cheap deals. Spezza is still an option to trade.

The cap is the least of our worries.

I think at one point or another, all teams are going to be in a bad way Cap wise. I don't know if one team is better than another in this situation. This Cap thing is killing teams off, and the situation we're in sucks, cause we locked so many guys in, and now they're underperforming. There is not much you can do but try to trade the contracts, which isn't working or start waiving guys, which really amounts to the same thing. I think teams are stuck with who they have, and if they make any kind of trades it'll be player for player, salary for salary...it doesn't really make things any better for anyone. This situation is only going to get more interesting and horrible for many teams. I think the important thing here is for GM's to stop giving players NTCs and NMCs, in some situations they're really painting themselves into a corner. Drafting and developing players is obviously the most important job for organizations for this situation to get a little easier in the future.

SeawaySensFan wrote:We're hardly in a cap crisis. Volchenkov and Phillips are on short-term, cheap deals. Spezza is still an option to trade.

The cap is the least of our worries.

No, the cap is the bulk of our worries. You toss Spezza's name around like he's Jarkko Ruutu. He isn't, he's a tremendously talented player, who's just starting to mature. He and Alfie took the team on their backs to the Cup Finals.

The cap is very serious for us. 24 million in the Big 4 forwards for a minimum of 5 years is half the reported salary cap for next year. So you trade Spezza? You take a tremendous step back and you acquire someone who is probably in line for a raise to 5 million+ and probably pretty soon. Like Brian Little for example. Or Brassard etc. etc. etc.

All of a sudden you're stuck in the exact same position again.

SensGirl11 wrote:I think at one point or another, all teams are going to be in a bad way Cap wise. I don't know if one team is better than another in this situation. This Cap thing is killing teams off, and the situation we're in sucks, cause we locked so many guys in, and now they're underperforming. There is not much you can do but try to trade the contracts, which isn't working or start waiving guys, which really amounts to the same thing. I think teams are stuck with who they have, and if they make any kind of trades it'll be player for player, salary for salary...it doesn't really make things any better for anyone. This situation is only going to get more interesting and horrible for many teams. I think the important thing here is for GM's to stop giving players NTCs and NMCs, in some situations they're really painting themselves into a corner. Drafting and developing players is obviously the most important job for organizations for this situation to get a little easier in the future.

Stop giving every Tom, Weiner and Harry 6+ million.

And I agree, big problems. I'm gonna sit back, put my feet up and see how Boston handles it.

Don't forget the Habs too.

SensGirl11 wrote:Don't forget the Habs too.

Well, they're okay, they just let all the UFAs go and they're in cap heaven (with no players).

504Heater wrote:No, the cap is the bulk of our worries. You toss Spezza's name around like he's Jarkko Ruutu. He isn't, he's a tremendously talented player, who's just starting to mature. He and Alfie took the team on their backs to the Cup Finals.

The cap is very serious for us. 24 million in the Big 4 forwards for a minimum of 5 years is half the reported salary cap for next year. So you trade Spezza? You take a tremendous step back and you acquire someone who is probably in line for a raise to 5 million+ and probably pretty soon. Like Brian Little for example. Or Brassard etc. etc. etc.

All of a sudden you're stuck in the exact same position again.

I throw Spezza's name around like a star player on a losing team who doesn't have a no-trade yet and who presents our best opportunity to be competitive next year and possibly the balance of this year.

If part of the return is a player who is in line for 5+ million, it still isn't 7 million. If another part of the return is a 1st rounder who is a solid NHLer in 2 years, he backfills some openings that come up when future moves are made and contracts come up.

We're not stuck now and we won't be if the cap is managed properly going forward.