Quote:
Originally Posted by Arya Stark
$2.25 million on a long term deal (4-5 years) is going to put us in cap hell?
That's not even the average salary in the NHL. Is Bouma better than the average player in the NHL? I think he brings more to the table than the average NHLer that's for sure.
He might not be a top 6 player on this team but I think he is top 6 in valuable forwards. If we lose Bouma, we are left with a huge hole.
He was second in the league in blocked shots last season among forwards. That alone will make him get a nice hefty raise. I don't see him getting less than $2 million on about a 4 year deal.
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It would only take about half that salary to re-sign Bouma. We know his great attributes and we know what he's worth to the team but there's no way an arbitrator or anyone else rules he's worth any more than what Brandon Bollig earns ($1.25 million).
Teams get into Cap Hell when they start overpaying players by extra millions here and there, thus making average players over-payed and completely un-tradable. I'd argue that we're already vastly overpaying Wideman, Stajan, Engelland, Smid, Jones and maybe Raymond.
Within the next 2 years the following players need to be re-signed if they are to be a part of the future. In
bold if they're obviously due a raise.
UFAs:
Giordano (possibly doubling his current salary)
Ramo
Glencross (won't take another hometown discount)
Hudler (if he's part of the future)
Russell (ditto)
McGrattan (ditto)
Setoguchi (probably walks if he isn't waived before that)
Jones (ditto)
RFAs:
Backlund
Monahan
Colborne
Gaudreau
Bouma
Byron
Baertschi
Reinhart
Ferland
Jooris
Wotherspoon
Granlund
Ortio
Knight
Van Brabant
Arnold
Wolf
Hanowski
Agostino
Elson
Acolatse
Ramage
How can you expect to stay out of Cap Hell long term if you start chucking extra millions at 4th liners just for the sake of it? Guys like Wideman, Stajan, Smid, Engelland, Raymond and Bollig don't come off the books for at least another season and I'd argue that most of them, on their current deals, are not tradable. That is going to be a pain once all our 'core' players are re-upped. Especially bad if Monahan, Baertschi, Bennett, Gaudreau and the rest live up to their potential.
We need some cap flexibility some day soon in the future. You engineer that by being sensible now.