Remember how I promised to discuss the Rangers' cap situation? Well I couldn't think of a better time to do than in the midst of all these rumors regarding Mats Sundin.
In case you have been hiding under a rock, or if you are one of those fringe fans who is more interested in the Manny Ramirez spectacle, let me explain. It seems that the entire hockey world is waiting for Mats Sundin to decide if he is going to play, and if so, where will he sign. He has standing offers from Montreal and Vancouver, with numbers ranging from $7 million to $10 million per year.
However, for some strange reasons, the Rangers are continually mentioned as one of six teams still interested in him. Actually the reasons aren't so strange. For one, he's Swedish. Can you think of any other Swedish player on our team right now? I'll help you . . . Henrik Lundqvist, Markus Naslund, Freddy Sjostrom, and maybe Andreas Jamtin. Secondly, if the reports are accurate, the Rangers are the only team to whom Sundin reached out personally, just before Montreal acquired exclusive negotiating rights from the Maple Leafs. And third, what's taking so long? It makes you think he's waiting for something.
Which leads to my next point - as things stand right now, he just don't fit. There ain't no room for him under the salary cap.
So here is the capology I promised:
1) The NHL salary cap for the 2008-09 season is $56.7 million dollars.
2) According to reports which I have attempted to confirm, the Rangers will have $1.6 million dollars charged against the cap. Because Jaromir Jagr did not reach the numbers to extend his stay on Broadway, his contract provided for a buyout of $1 million dollars (minus the rollback of salaries from the lockout, it results in a $760,000 cap hit). Additionally, it has been reported that they have a $700,000 cap penalty for a rollover of deferred bonus money (perhaps to Shanahan). So now, the Rangers can only spend up to $55.1 million dollars.
3) According to Bob McKenzie of TSN, unlike last year teams are not able to defer bonus money for players over 35 years-old, because the CBA can be re-opened by the NHLPA, thereby making this the unofficial last year of the agreement. We'll take this as truth, for now, because it hasn't been refuted by anyone. So forget putting some Sundin money over to next season.
4) Without listing every player and his cap hit, if you take the team's free agents and returning players (NOT including Jamtin, Korpikoski, or Anisomov, but INCLUDING Thomas Pöck as a seventh defenseman/14th forward), you have only about $700,000 of cap space, with only 22 guys on the roster. Just take my word for it for now.
5) That means NO Mats Sundin.
However...
What if he really, really, wants to play here? Naslund took a $2 million dollar pay cut to come here. Sundin made $5.5 million last season, is it possible he takes a cut from that to play with his fellow Swedish gold medalists? If he's willing to accept $4 million, for argument's sake, there is a slim possibility they can swing it.
That means Petr Prucha and his $1.6 million will be gone. That means Lauri Korpikoski and his $1 million will spend another year with the Pack. That means one of Aaron Voros or Patrick Rissmiller will never dress as a Ranger. That means Dmitri Kalinin and/or Paul Mara and their $2 million dollar hit might have to be moved.
More drastically, maybe some team who needs to get up to the cap floor takes on a lot of years for Michal Rozsival and his $5 million. (Boy does that signing look awfully crappy to me right now.)
So who knows how this shapes up. It's possible, but unlikely. But possible. It would be interesting, that's for sure.
Posted by jim at August 01, 2008 01:23 PMeMail this entry!
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