Quote:
Originally Posted by oldschoolcalgary
have to run to work...
however, we joke about the Oilers on the verge of entering cap hell, and McDavid is only at 12.5 million, not 15...
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It's not McDavid that's causing the cap hell. Again, Iginla signed a 7M contract when the cap was 39M and the Flames were able to ice a Northwest division champ team (in large part thanks to Kiprusoff). That's 18% of the cap at the time. I know it's not an exact correlation, but 18% of an 80M cap would be 14.5M.
Ovechkin was making 17% of the future cap when he originally signed in 2008. They were able to build three President Trophy winning teams around him and that contract.
The issue with the Oilers is pretty much everyone else. Lucic at 6M, Russell 4M, Kassian at 2M, Draistail at 8.5M depending on your view on him and Pouliot at a 1.3M buyout. That's a lot of cap-space that could be filled with cheaper players or those that should be the equivalent of ELC contracts but they have no prospects that weren't drafted 1st overall. There's not a cap-hit in 2019 currently on the Oilers that you're getting 'additional value' for. Unless Puljujärvi breaks out in a big way or Talbot bounces back significantly.
Again, even as a big proponent of Tavares and 'high priced contracts' I think 15M is pushing it. But if you wanted to see a possible team that could contend with a 15M Tavares, look at a team like the Hurricanes who have been in-and-out of the playoffs all season. They could simply add a 15M contract at the beginning of the year without having to remove anyone instantly filling their biggest need.
Imagine how much better the Devils would be if they had Tavares at 10M+ instead of Zajac at 6M this year. Easily overshoot the Capitals and probably racing with the Lightning for first.