Quote:
Originally Posted by JohnnySkittles
Retool yes, but with guys like Kopitar, Quick and Doughty I doubt you'll see them rebuild.
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To start the 2018-2019 season, Kopitar will be 31, Quick will be 32 (cap hit $5.8), Doughty will be 28 (cap hit $7.0). They will also have Brown at 33 (cap hit $5.875), Carter at 33 (cap hit $5.272), Gaborik at 36 (cap hit $4.875). Kopitar is the only one in that group who is not signed for at least that season, and he is up after this season. And he will get a raise from his current $6.8 cap hit. Unless the cap sky rockets, most of those will not be great value. But then you have your cap reduced by $4.2 million because of the Richards buyout for two years. That is like increasing the cost of each one of these by $0.8m.
Then the following year the only contract that drops off is Doughty, and he is probably the only remaining player after Kopitar that will get a raise on his next contract. And everyone one of those players other than him is in varying states of decline barring drinking some of the blood of Chara & Chelios.
They might still be competitive in 2018-19, but I really doubt that they will be serious cup contenders with these contracts. And the following year will be even worse as all the players are one year older.
Obviously, LTIR and trades can help them out. But these opportunities do not fall out of trees.
It will be like the Flames circa 2008-09 where all their stars were past their prime but locked up. Then couldn't ice a full team because of the cap. People spoke of a team with the likes of Iginla, Regher, Phaneuf & Kiprusoff couldn't possibly be declining at similar ages. Especially when you add Bouwmeester, Jokinen, Langkow, etc. to the mix. It took a few years to realize they were in cap hell.
