Wasted Cap Space

[N26]

I can't remember which thread I read it in because I have been all over them today but someone speculated about how much each team has in dead cap space and where you could find out.

A little bored and over-caffeinated I got the excel out and did some work.

Using CapFriendly I added together buy-outs, retained salary and recapture penalties plus, in one team's case, terminated contracts. I did not count compliance buyouts (ie Rick DiPietro) or players who are put on LTIR (ie Marian Hossa) as these may cost the teams money but they do not cost cap space.

There are two lists. One for the 2020-21 season and a second which adds up total for the next three seasons starting in 2020-21 and ending in 2022-23

2020-21 Wasted Cap Space

BO = buyout, RT = retained salary RP =recapture penalty, CT contract termination

T1. Colorado $0
T1. St Louis $0
T1. San Jose $0
T1. Washington $0
T1. Winnipeg $0
T6. NYIslander $0 (didn't give them a T1 because of the DiPietro freebie)
T6. Tampa Bay $0 (Lecavalier)
8. Dallas $450 000 (VNichushkin BO)
9. Vegas $500 000 (TTatar RT)
10. Chicago $750 000 (OMaatta RT)
11. Buffalo $791 667 (CHodgson BO)
12. Arizona $833 333 (MGrabner BO)
13. Toronto $1 200 000 (PKessel RT)
14. Boston $1 500 000 (DBackes RT)
15. Columbus $1 691 667 (SHartnell BO, AWennberg BO)
16. Nashville $2 041 667 (KTurris BO, SSantini BO)
17. Minnesota $2 166 667 (DDubnyk RT)
18. Carolina $2 333 333 (ASemin BO)
19. Philadelphia $2 516 667 (AMcDonald BO, DSchlemko BO)
20. Calgary $2 666 667 (TBrouwer BO, MStone BO)
21. Pittsburgh $3 216 667 (JJohnson BO, NBjugstad RT)
22. Detroit $3 472 233 (SWeiss BO, JAbdelkader BO)
23. New Jersey $3 916 667 (MCammalleri BO, CSchneider BO, IKovalchuk RP)
24. Montreal $3 958 333 (KAlzner BO)
25. Florida $3 987 844 (SDarlingBO, JDemers RT, RLuongo RP)
26. Vancouver $4 068 545 (RSpooner BO, RLuongo RP)
27, Edmonton $4 633 333 (BPouliot BO, ASekera BO, MLucic RT)
28. Ottawa $4 973 500 (DPhaneuf BO, BRyan BO)
29. Anaheim $6 625 000 (CPerry BO)
30. LAKings $11 012 500 (DPhaneuf BO, MRichard CT, IKovalchuk CT)
31. NYRangers $12 994 444 (RSpooner BO, DGirardi BO, HLundquist BO, KShattenkirk BO)

Notables:

- Ryan Spooner (NYR & Vcr), Dion Phaneuf (LA & Ott), Roberto Luongo (Fla & Vcr) and Ilya Kovalchuk (LA & NJD) are costing more than one team cap space.

- Florida does the treble with one buyout (ScottDarling), one retained salary (Demers) and one recapture (Luongo)

- Corey Perry (Ana), Ilya Kovalchuk (LA), Kevin Shattenkirk (NYR) and Henrik Lundquist (also NYR!) represent more than $5.5 million each in dead space for there former teams next season. Ouch.

- Dion Phaneuf is getting over $5 million this year ($1.35 from Ottawa and $4 and change from LA) to sneak out for smokes, golf badly and have sex with his hot wife.

- Lot of Canadian teams in the bottom third of the list. But not Toronto. They use their financial power to take on LTIRs but haven't had any buyouts and just the one retained salary in the past few years

- The NYRangers number doesn't even include whatever they are still paying Brad Richards not to play for them

- When did Cody Hodgson (Buf) retire? Feels like it was the late 90s.

- Kudos to Colorado, Washington and St Louis for being top teams with no wasted cap space. Not to Winnipeg. I don't kudo Winnipeg.

- Also no kudos to San Jose despite their current $0 as they are a weak team with several contracts they are going to have trouble getting out from under in the near, and not-too-distant future. Martin Jones ($5.75 for 4 more years), ME Vlasic ($7.0 for 6 more), Brett Burns ($8.0 until his 40th birthday in 5 years), Erik Karlsson ($11.5 for 7 more) and Logan Couture (7 more years of $8.0). Not sure Evander Kane is worth 5 more years at $7.0 either

3 Year Wasted Space Totals (2020-2023)

T1. Colorado $0
T1. Washington $0
T1. StLouis $0
4. Winnipeg $0 (not T1 because of above no kudos to Winnipeg policy)
5. San Jose $0 (see above future contract situation)
T6. NYIslanders $0 (DiPietro)
T6. Tampa Bay $0 (Lecavalier)
8. Dallas $450 000
9. Vegas $500 000
10. Boston $1 500 000
11. Chicago $1 500 216
12. Arizona $2 091 666
13. Minnesota $2 166 667
14. Carolina $2 333 333
15. Buffalo $2 375 001
16. Toronto $2 400 000
17. Philadelphia $2 516 667
18. Columbus $2 575 001
19. Calgary $4 166 667
20. Pittsburgh $6 300 000
21. Nashville $6 316 667
22. Vancouver $7 100 00
23. Florida $7 446 521
24. Montreal $7 874 999
25. Detroit $8 083 335
26. NewJersey $8 416 667
27. Edmonton $9 133 333
28. Anaheim $10 625 000
29. Ottawa $11 134 500
30. LAKings $14 937 500
31. NYRangers $19 583 332

Notables:

- The NYRangers number is a little ridiculous and, I repeat, does not include the Brad Richards buyout

- For an owner that often claims poverty the Ottawa number is real bad too

- If Edmonton buys out James Neal they can drop to 30th. Adding $1.9+ to their yearly total. <insert evil laugh>

- Only $1 million and change of Vancouver's number is Ryan Spooner's buyout. Most of it is the Luongo penalty. <insert bigger evil laugh>

- Dion Phaneuf is a d*ck

- All of the $10 million+ for Anaheim goes to Corey Perry. <insert conflicted noise> Anaheim getting screwed is good but a free $10mil to Perry is no bueno

[Crown Royal]

So we aren't counting contracts like Hossa or Gaborik? Because that's how teams like Ottawa and Arizona circumvent that cap

[Red]

Great work on those numbers N26.

In short, the top teams avoid wasting cap space and the bad teams have tons of it.

With a few exceptions it almost mirrors the actual standings. Interesting stuff.

[N26]

Originally Posted by Crown Royal

So we aren't counting contracts like Hossa or Gaborik? Because that's how teams like Ottawa and Arizona circumvent that cap

True, some teams LTIR them and some use them to get above the cap floor.

I have to think about how to work those numbers in appropriately.

[Jacks]

Phaneuf still haunting 2 teams, hasn't been a decent player for a decade.

[MrMike]

Originally Posted by Crown Royal

So we aren't counting contracts like Hossa or Gaborik? Because that's how teams like Ottawa and Arizona circumvent that cap

Aren't those over for this season? Or is he cherry picking stats or LTIR doesnt count against dead cap.

[zukes]

Excellent work.

[Robbob]

I guess the good thing for the Flames, is after this year, they have one year with 1.5M left before all the buyouts come off. With the flat cap that is huge.

[Strange Brew]

Fantastic post N26, thank you. It's an all timer.

I suppose in some cases the wasted cap space was deliberate decision by the team to clear the decks, while the team rebuilds for a season or two and/or retain salary in a deal to improve the return. The buyout dead cap money is really the worst scenario.

This list just reinforces how glad I am that Flames ownership did not allow Treliving to buy out James neal last summer (if in fact those reports are true).

[Crown Royal]

Originally Posted by MrMike

Aren't those over for this season? Or is he cherry picking stats or LTIR doesnt count against dead cap.

Hossa and Gaborik and Hossa each have a year left on their contracts. N26 didn't include LTIR. Which I get, because teams can replace that salary; but I just wanted to point out certain teams like to use it as dead space to reach the floor.

[Flashpoint]

Thats a solid post dude. Thanks for putting it together!

HA HA stupid Oilers.

[GioforPM]

Need to count James Neal’s full salary as wasted cap space for the Oilers. Haha

[N26]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

Need to count James Neal’s full salary as wasted cap space for the Oilers. Haha

I thought I got all the possible good jokes into my comments section but that is a winner right there.