Quote:
Originally Posted by Bend it like Bourgeois
Really interesting debate.
An argument for recapturing the annual could be that the teams have presumably used that space. Eg if a player received 8m on a contract with an AAV of 5, the team got a 3m benefit that only existed in that year, that they are assumed to have used. That the $ may even out later doesn't undo the advantage they received.
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I would argue that the recapture clause does now ensure that the advantage is undone. Under the previous CBA, as we all know, contracts were signed that appeared to make use of a loophole, so that teams could sign players and pay them more than their cap hits, over the whole length of their contract.
However, now teams will have to take the penalty back at some point - with no way out of it. Right now, all of these players with the backdiving contracts are in the years were they are paid more then the cap hit. However, as time goes on, there will be a mix of players for whom their salaries are higher than their cap hit and for whom it is the other way around. As this happens, overall, there won't be much benefit to teams to do this any longer.
The interesting thing I think of, is that, if Kiprusoff retires, his contract might be the only contract in NHL history to have successfully circumvented the cap - instead of merely shifting cap room into different years.