[Jay Random]

Originally Posted by OptimalTates

No team goes with a less than 23 man roster if they aren't up against the cap. It's never ever ever happened.

I am pretty certain that your ‘never ever ever’ is wrong, but I do not at the moment have leisure to go over the last 17 years of cap history of every team in the league.

If they're trying to avoid spending to the salary floor, then they are up against an internal budget, and carrying fewer than 23 players is an easy and obvious way to stay within that budget.

And if you're proposing that a team not have a full roster, then Lucic's cap hit again becomes beneficial as it helps them get to the floor with only 22 players instead of 23 or whatever.

You obviously didn't read what I said. Here are the alternatives I proposed:

1. Acquire Lucic and sit him in the press box just for the sake of his cap hit. (Your suggestion.) This costs $825,000 in actual cash.

2. Run a 22-man roster, and acquire a player who is medically unable to play, but whose salary is covered by insurance. This costs $0 in actual cash, and you can get draft picks or other useful assets as part of the trade. This is what Buffalo did with Bishop – though, I admit, the assets they got were minimal. Still, minimal assets are better than none, and spending $0 is better than spending $825,000.

I will add another alternative:

3. Acquire a full-blown cap dump with salary payable, and collect multiple draft picks and/or prospects as your reward for taking it on. This is what Arizona has done repeatedly in recent years.

But that's assuming Lucic wouldn't just make the on-ice team which he probably would.

You're the one who said he would be in the pressbox, not me.