Canucks News N Notes 24-25

[Strangelove]

Hard to see how every resource isn't useful at every stage.

As Doc says, "teams trying to compete for the playoffs/Cup try to clear cap space."

So if a rebuilding team has abundant cap space, then they can afford to take on a bad contract in a trade from a team that needs to dump salary, and pick up some more long-term assets in the exchange.

So a rebuilding team might well be advised to eat someone else's bad contract, but they should never sign overly generous ones of their own, unless they have plans to flip the contract to a contender at the deadline.

Well yes, except at some point a rebuilding team is going to want to bring in some vets to mentor/protect the kids.

(and of course that team will need to overpay UFA vets to entice them to play for a rebuilding team)

I'll admit I have been playing a game of semantics with my old pal Blobby

... as a way punishing him for repeating the same blanket statements over and over and over.

It's my Strange way of of using tough Love to help set him free from a certain fixation/obsession.

[Megaterio Llamas]

Hard to see how every resource isn't useful at every stage.

As Doc says, "teams trying to compete for the playoffs/Cup try to clear cap space."

So if a rebuilding team has abundant cap space, then they can afford to take on a bad contract in a trade from a team that needs to dump salary, and pick up some more long-term assets in the exchange.

So a rebuilding team might well be advised to eat someone else's bad contract, but they should never sign overly generous ones of their own, unless they have plans to flip the contract to a contender at the deadline.

Well yes, except at some point a rebuilding team is going to want to bring in some vets to mentor/protect the kids.

(and of course that team will need to overpay UFA vets to entice them to play for a rebuilding team)

I'll admit I have been playing a game of semantics with my old pal Blobby

... as a way punishing him for repeating the same blanket statements over and over and over.

It's my Strange way of of using tough Love to help set him free from a certain fixation/obsession.

You gotta be cruel to be kind eh Doc

[Strangelove]

In the right measure.

[donlever]

Lol...yeah...the right measure here is a wip Nick.

[Ronning's Ghost]

Well yes, except at some point a rebuilding team is going to want to bring in some vets to mentor/protect the kids.

(and of course that team will need to overpay UFA vets to entice them to play for a rebuilding team)

I can see that.

But I don't see why it would be worth paying expensive players to do that. By your job description, they only need to be savvy professionals, and tough. Those usually aren't highly-priced skillsets. So the overpayment is only relative, i.e. 3.5 - 4 million for a 3 million dollar player.

So, for example, you could justify Jay Beagle's Canucks salary of $3 million that way, but not a Euro scoring winger.

[Strangelove]

Well yes, except at some point a rebuilding team is going to want to bring in some vets to mentor/protect the kids.

But I don't see why it would be worth paying expensive players to do that. By your job description, they only need to be savvy professionals, and tough. Those usually aren't highly-priced skillsets. So the overpayment is only relative, i.e. 3.5 - 4 million for a 3 million dollar player.

So, for example, you could justify Jay Beagle's Canucks salary of $3 million that way, but not a Euro scoring winger.

Yeahno, a good "mentor" includes skill.

Every rebuilding team does it at some point in the rebuild.

Blackhawks come to mind, they brought in overpaid guys like...

Jones ($9,.5M), Zaitsev ($4.5M), Mrázek ($4.25M), Hall ($6M), Foligno ($4.5M), Athanasiou ($4.25M), Perry ($4M)

... and our very own Dickinson and Mikheyev.

All with skills, all with contracts that take them into their 30s, a bunch of them WELL into their 30s.

[Ronning's Ghost]

Every rebuilding team does it at some point in the rebuild.

The difference in opinion might be down to which phase of the rebuild each of us have in mind.

Late rebuild (the core is mostly drafted, but not yet mature), I agree with you. At that point, the team no longer benefits from taking on salary dump in exchange for assets that will be valuable in the future.

But cap space still matters then, because you want to hire quality role-models. I would grant that it is the time that it matters the least, but it still matters.

[rikster]

Every rebuilding team does it at some point in the rebuild.

The difference in opinion might be down to which phase of the rebuild each of us have in mind.

Late rebuild (the core is mostly drafted, but not yet mature), I agree with you. At that point, the team no longer benefits from taking on salary dump in exchange for assets that will be valuable in the future.

But cap space still matters then, because you want to hire quality role-models. I would grant that it is the time that it matters the least, but it still matters.

Cap space is a fleeting moment in time...

Regardless of what stage of development an organization is in, cap space is meant to be spent...

And just when you think you spent the space wisely, another hole in the roster emerges or a player underperfoms their contract or a better value opportunity arises and you wish you had the cap space you just spent...

It's like telling someone in a round room to go pee in the corner...

Take care..

[Strangelove]

Good posting gents.

I'll just add that during the Flat Cap Era all teams were spending to relatively near the cap

... even rebuilding teams.

But prior to the Flat Cap Era... and no doubt post Flat Cap Era...

... rebuilding teams were/will naturally tend to be quite a bit under the cap.

Whether or not a team in that position wants to "weaponize" that cap space depends upon a few factors of course.

[Megaterio Llamas]

[Strangelove]

^ Can never have too many Hugheses.

[Hockey Widow]

So Heinen left about $750,000 on the table to sign with Vancouver. He welcomed the chance to play for his hometown team. His favourite Canucks memory is the Burrows OT goal against Chicago. Nice to have players who want to be here and are willing to sacrifice a bit for that chance.

[donlever]

Impressive...that's a significant chunk at his pay scale.

AP was talking about this the other day.

Finding BC kids that want to play here.

[Carl Yagro]

∆ Bedard and Celebrini

[Hockey Widow]

Impressive...that's a significant chunk at his pay scale.

AP was talking about this the other day.

Finding BC kids that want to play here.

Exactly what I was thinking. That is a big percentage for him to leave on the table. But who knows who offered it or what the term was. Just nice for a player to want to be here badly enough to do that.