MLive’s Ansar Khan attempts to discern the Red Wings’ salary cap situation this morning, and Khan believes that the Wings have enough money remaining to re-sign Dylan Larkin and Anthony Mantha without significant difficulty:
The Red Wings have 20 players signed to one-way contracts, totaling a cap hit of approximately $70.8 million (12 forwards, six defensemen, two goaltenders).
That includes Johan Franzen, who’ll be placed on long-term injured reserve before the season, giving the club cap relief (possibly close to $3.9 million).
Add to that about $2.6 million of dead cap space from the bought-out contracts of Stephen Weiss and Xavier Ouellet and some bonus payouts from last season.
That adds up to about $73.4 million (including Franzen). The cap ceiling is $79.5 million.
As Khan notes, things get complicated if the Wings are to play Filip Zadina and Michael Rasmussen on the roster, but the Wings could get some cap relief by demoting a player to Grand Rapids (see: Luke Witkowski or Martin Frk).
I see no reason to leave Frk or Witkowski on the opening night roster given the increase in SKILL coming through the ranks.
It was good to see them do shuffling and get AA on a reasonable deal as a “show-me”.
I am surprised AA negotiated much quicker this time around. Hope the same for Larkin and Mantha
Hopefully he learned his lesson from last time that he has no real leverage right now, and it will hurt him long term to be seen as a difficult player to work with, especially if he wants to move to another team when he can.
AA signing was not as difficult because AA had significant leverage this off-season: player-elected arbitration. It’s like negotiating with a gun to the GM’s head. Make a deal the player likes or otherwise it’s up to a *cough *cough ‘independent’ arbitor who in theory can force a club to sign for the player’s ask or make them walk away and lose the player for nothing .
Larkin and Mantha don’t have this bargaining right yet and this is why they will take longer to re-sign with the club. Don’t be surprised if it drags on especially in Mantha’s case.
While the cap situation is certainly worth exploring, the roster situation where the youth was promised a ‘chance’ is what I’d like to see articles on. Especially after what transpired on July 1st. Not the complaints about the GM, but actual analysis of the probabilities of what will happen.
19 of 23 spots are filled (with Larkin and Mantha making 21 of 23). Either Hronek or Cholowski will make 22. Leaving Zadina, Rasmussen, and Pope for the other. My question is do the Wings leave Zadina off the opening roster schedule and call him up at a later date when they have a larger block of home games for his 9 game tryout or do they give him the final roster spot and burn a year of his entry level deal? That’s about the only thing left to decide this off-season.
On another note, this time of year I always type capgeek.com when I want to see a salary cap chart…just goes to show you how amazing it’s creator was.
Except Zadina can not be called up, he either starts on the roster or goes back to Halifax. Its all or nothing with him.
punks running chl dont give a damn that preventing these draftee’s from playing in ahl slows their development plus increases risk of injury if theyre brought up to the bigs too early . all they care about is them drawing more fans to their games . they need to be grilled on this matter big time .
Thanks Kris,
But I am not sure Zadina’s European or CHL status is a settled issue: does the “Players Drafted from a Club Outside North America” section apply to him or not? The CHL GM can make any claim he wants, but if he was on loan and not bought out with a transfer fee thereby releasing him from his Czech contract then he can go to the AHL even if that CHL’s GM believes otherwise.
BTW, there are exceptions to the have to start the season with the NHL team:
If the player is signed to an ELC and sent to juniors (OHL/WHL/Q), it’s a loan and there are emergency conditions under which an NHL team can recall a CHL player (the Griffins would have to be out of state and farther away than the CHL team). Also, once the player’s junior season is finished, the player can be recalled/reassigned (last 7 or 8 games of the year if that CHL team misses the playoffs).
FYI, looks like I got it right as of now. The Wings had (a) lawyer(s) arguing their case to the NHL that he is a Euro and eligible to play in the AHL. The NHL is now investigating and will make the determination.
https://www.detroitnews.com/story/sports/2018/07/06/nhl-have-say-where-detroit-red-wings-filip-zadina-can-play/764082002/