[News] Tavares tells the Islanders he is leaving

[ComixZone]

Originally Posted by dissentowner

I love how Dallas continues to think adding more offensive players and continuing to ignore the fact their D besides Klingberg is rubbish is the way to go.

Friedman was speculating Dallas is in on Erik Karlsson.

Also, centres have a huge impact on team defense.

[theslymonkey]

I find it funny that people think the cap matters to any team when looking to sign Tavares. You sign the guy to whatever gets it done and then move pieces to make the cap work. Every team has a player or two that would fix the problem by trading or just waiving to get him in. For example, if the Flames didn't have room, they could move Backlund for whatever they could get. If they just waived him it would be bad asset management, but it would still essentially be like trading Backlund for Tavares. Every team makes that move. Again, that's an extreme example but every team could make that move if they had the chance to sign JT.

[goflamesgo18]

Originally Posted by Oil Stain

Plus taxes.

With the exchange rate, and the fact players are paid in US dollar. there is no advantage tax wise to sign in the states right now. It works out to roughly the same net income for players.

[Jay Random]

Originally Posted by goflamesgo18

With the exchange rate, and the fact players are paid in US dollar. there is no advantage tax wise to sign in the states right now. It works out to roughly the same net income for players.

Not true. A net income of a million Canadian dollars is much less than a net income of a million U.S. dollars. When you're earning seven figures, most of your income should be going into investments, not living expenses, and you don't get a discount on investments by paying for them in loonies.

[direwolf]

Man, I hope Tavares stays in the east. At the very least, just please keep him out of our division.

[Flamenspiel]

Originally Posted by Oling_Roachinen

How is it a stretch? You sign Tavares, you trade Johnson to anyone of the other 30 teams who would love to him. That's not an issue, it's a bonus. Team still has more than 6 top 6 players if they move one and they get back the assets that Johnson nets them.

It's not cap implications, not for this year, that would be the hold up on Tampa Bay getting Tavares.

And with Stamkos and Hedman, two of the pillars of the organization, signed longterm for a combined 15M, it's going to be easy to build around them if they don't end up with any bad contracts like Callahan.

Then your dumping Johnson for next to nothing. So it becomes more like a trade, then you have to trade people next year because they can't fit him later on. Of course in a fantasy hockey way any team can begin dumping their whole lineup to get JT but that weakens the team in other ways.



I just don't buy it, I don't think he will sign in Tampa or Boston, its simply a tactic to drive the price up for Toronto.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Why would you be dumping Johnson for next to nothing? You're going to have a bidding war for him. You should be getting some good value for the guy. I'd think at minimum a first and a top-end prospect. He's a 27 year old 2nd line C (on most teams) on a good contract until 2024 - tons of teams want that. The Kings, Stars, Sharks (if they aren't getting JT), Blues, Vegas, Colorado, Columbus... all seem like good options.

[savardandjokinen]

Originally Posted by Flamenspiel

Then your dumping Johnson for next to nothing. So it becomes more like a trade, then you have to trade people next year because they can't fit him later on. Of course in a fantasy hockey way any team can begin dumping their whole lineup to get JT but that weakens the team in other ways.



I just don't buy it, I don't think he will sign in Tampa or Boston, its simply a tactic to drive the price up for Toronto.

https://www.capfriendly.com/armchair-gm/team/752600

It's possible he can sign in Tampa, but cap long term isn't their friend. They could always go with this really good team then trade Johnson when cap troubles hit in 2 years.

[Oling_Roachinen]

Originally Posted by Flamenspiel

Then your dumping Johnson for next to nothing.

Why would that at all be the case?

He's a 55 point center/right winger that is signed long-term at a very reasonable 5M. If he became available prior to July 1st, 2018 because Tavares agreed to sign a contract with Tampa, Treliving would call him up that day giving up the 2019 first+. Forget about the other 29 teams that would be interested.

There's a price point, sure, if Tavares does want 14M, Tampa tells him to look elsewhere. If he's willing to sign at Stamkos' 8.5M, they'd execute Johnson in a back-alley if that's what it took.

Somewhere in between and it does become a bit more of a question, but really Tavares + 2019 first (minimum)>>>Johnson.

[yourbestfriend]

Originally Posted by Jay Random

Not true. A net income of a million Canadian dollars is much less than a net income of a million U.S. dollars. When you're earning seven figures, most of your income should be going into investments, not living expenses, and you don't get a discount on investments by paying for them in loonies.

But in this case, it's not 1M USD vs 1M CAD. The exchange has fluctuated between 1.20 and 1.35 the last few years.

10M USD right now is worth 13.3M CAD, which is definitely something to take into account. I'm not saying that Tavares will come to Calgary, but if you take into account the FX, low cost of living and the fact that Alberta is the lowest taxed province with an NHL team, Calgary makes sense if he's chasing money.

[Oil Stain]

Originally Posted by goflamesgo18

With the exchange rate, and the fact players are paid in US dollar. there is no advantage tax wise to sign in the states right now. It works out to roughly the same net income for players.

What does the exchange rate matter? 1 million US is 1 million US. I assume most of these guys are investing the majority of their income so they likely keep the currency in US dollar accounts anyway.


When you talk about taxes, it depends on the state.

Florida for example doesn't have state income tax.

Alberta used to be one of the best but both the Federal Liberal gov and the Provincial NDP raised income taxes on highly paid individuals.

[Flames Draft Watcher]

Originally Posted by Oil Stain

What does the exchange rate matter? 1 million US is 1 million US. I assume most of these guys are investing the majority of their income so they likely keep the currency in US dollar accounts anyway.

LOL. It matters because they live 3/4 of the year in Canada and thus the majority of their living expenses are in CDN$. They buy a house in Canadian $, eat out or buy groceries in CDN$, buy a car in CDN$, etc.

So yeah living and playing hockey in Canada and making US$ does make a difference when the exchange rate is so favourable.

[Oling_Roachinen]

Originally Posted by savardandjokinen

It's possible he can sign in Tampa, but cap long term isn't their friend.

But they have more cap flexibility and better cap management than probably any other team in the league because of the contracts that they have. Look at the Sharks top contracts compared to theirs:

Stamkos at 8.5M>>>>Kane at 7M
Hedman at 7.8M>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Burns at 8M

Sure, Kucherov, Sergachev, Point, Vasilevskiy will all need raises (and are all RFAs), but outside of Callahan, who's contract is up in 2 years, there's not a bad contract that couldn't be easily moved for something of value on that team.

So the reason that the cap would be an issue is that they will have too many good players? That's not a bad problem to have. Every GM in the league prays to have that problem. Sign Tavares, re-sign Kucherov, and go from there. Given the discounts that Stamkos and Hedman have, the team wouldn't even be all that top heavy.

It's not all that uncommon to see a team with a cap structure that sees the top 3 forwards, top 2 defenseman and top goalie making over 40M.

Chicago has Kane, Toews, Saad, Keith, Seabrook, Crawford making over 45M.

Washington has Ovechkin, Kuznetsov, Backstrom, Carlson, Niskanen, Holtby making nearly 45M.

Pittsburgh has Crosby, Malkin, Kessel, Letang, Schultz and Murray making 42M.

Los Angeles has Kopitar, Kovalchuk, Brown, Doughty, Phaneuf, Quick making over 40M with Doughty needing a hefty raise after this season.

And for giggles, Edmonton has McDavid, Draisaitl, Lucic, Sekera, Klefbom, Talbot making 41M.

Tavares at 10M, Hedman at 7.8M, Stamkos at 8.5M. Kucherov at 9M (factoring in RFA status) would leave 10M to sign Vasilevskiy and Sergachev as RFAs and have their "top 6" at 45M. Three of the top 15 forwards, the Norris winner, and a Vezina nominee. You can build around that. You don't worry about keeping Palat, Killorn, Johnson, Miller, Gourde and Point all together - especially when Seattle would just be claiming one of them down the line anyways. You trade those to make it work.

[sureLoss]

TSN has caught the Maple Leaf contingent arriving at Tavares' agents' office

https://www.instagram.com/p/BkduF98D...d=2jl6zooslqnw

Holy crap they have a 3 hour presentation!

[CaptainCrunch]

Seriously though, as his agent these meetings could be 10 minutes long. How much money? How long? How much cocaine is going to show up at my clients door carried by the hottest hookers in the city?

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by sureLoss

TSN has caught the Maple Leaf contingent arriving at Tavares' agents' office

https://www.instagram.com/p/BkduF98D...d=2jl6zooslqnw

Holy crap they have a 3 hour presentation!

I hope Tavares ends the meeting with "Thanks, but no thanks for wasting most of my god damned afternoon."

[Weitz]

https://twitter.com/user/status/1011393974894931970

[Jiri Hrdina]

Holy crow does Commodore have a hate on for Babcock

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by Weitz

https://twitter.com/user/status/1011393974894931970

Oh, Mike Commodore takes another opportunity to slam Mike Barcock on twitter? What a shocking surprise.

[Jay Random]

Originally Posted by yourbestfriend

10M USD right now is worth 13.3M CAD, which is definitely something to take into account.

No, it isn't. Because prices in CAD are not the same as prices in USD. It doesn't matter a good goddamn which currency you get paid in, converting it to Canadian dollars does not magically give you more money. It just gives you a bigger number of less valuable dollars.

This is not high-flying financial wizard stuff here. You might as well say that a player should play in Turkey because 10M USD = 47M Turkish lire. It's a foolish argument to make.