Salary Cap Preview to July 1

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WaukeeBlues
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Salary Cap Preview to July 1

Post by WaukeeBlues »

NHLnumbers.com just updated their website yesterday to re-calculate the expired contracts of last year and to give an idea of this year moving forward.

Blues Salary Cap Overview

In short, Blues are in good shape.

Like or hate it we have easily the cheapest goaltending cost in the league (edit: apologies, Anaheim is cheaper with two RFA's), our defense is set (with the possible exception of a cheap veteran depth signing at the most), leaving our offense to deal with. According to NHLnumbers.com, we have $23,158,000 in cap space to play with, almost entirely on offense. That assumes we spend to the cap and don't earmark any cap space for the season or next year (which would be dumb given Allen and Tarasenko are on the horizon) but still... that's a lot of money and the most I remember in recent memory to use on one side of the puck.

We have 8 forwards under contract for next year with only about 6 being "regulars" so we have some options. IMHO...

- Get a deal done for Spezza/Kesler. I'd almost say this is priority #1.
- Re-sign Sobotka (no contest), Schwartz (of course) and Cracknell (personally I like the guy's tenacity and it'll be a really cheap contract for easy depth with some NHL experience).
- That's about it. I'm excited for the financial flexibility to make some moves though. Absolutely exciting.
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Re: Salary Cap Preview to July 1

Post by gaijin »

WaukeeBlues wrote:NHLnumbers.com just updated their website yesterday to re-calculate the expired contracts of last year and to give an idea of this year moving forward.

Blues Salary Cap Overview

In short, Blues are in good shape.

Like or hate it we have easily the cheapest goaltending cost in the league, our defense is set (with the possible exception of a cheap veteran depth signing at the most), leaving our offense to deal with. According to NHLnumbers.com, we have $23,158,000 in cap space to play with, almost entirely on offense. That assumes we spend to the cap and don't earmark any cap space for the season or next year (which would be dumb given Allen and Tarasenko are on the horizon) but still... that's a lot of money and the most I remember in recent memory to use on one side of the puck.

We have 8 forwards under contract for next year with only about 6 being "regulars" so we have some options. IMHO...

- Get a deal done for Spezza/Kesler. I'd almost say this is priority #1.
- Re-sign Sobotka (no contest), Schwartz (of course) and Cracknell (personally I like the guy's tenacity and it'll be a really cheap contract for easy depth with some NHL experience).
- That's about it. I'm excited for the financial flexibility to make some moves though. Absolutely exciting.
Hopefully, with the extra scratch that appears to be available, we actually take advantage and make a deal with a scorer (or two!) in his prime, instead of relying on has-beens acquired on the cheap. My hope is that the organizations monetary shrewdness (which is usually a good thing- we don't overpay and we make smart contracts) doesn't put us out of the running for the scoring we need. Goaltending and defense are set- the time to open the purse on a forward is now.
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Re: Salary Cap Preview to July 1

Post by dmiles2186 »

I know Army has taken some knocks around here for his recent failed trades, but the contracts he's handed out to our core guys have been absolutely vital in creating this space. Our 'core' of Backes, Oshie, Steen, Petro, Bouwmeester, and Shattenkirk were all signed to deals at, and mostly below, what they would have received on the free agent market. Those guys wanted to stay, Army got the job done.

But for years we've been focused on defense and goaltending and forward depth when it came to free agency. We've got a chance to make a big move here. I agree on the Kesler/Spezza front. We've gotta get one of them if we can. After that, there are a ton of UFA forwards that I wouldn't mind seeing suit up for us. (I personally would love to see Lee Stempniak back as a 3rd line forward...some scoring punch down the depth chart)

I would have loved to have Gaborik but that guy made himself some bank with his postseason performance. I need to look who else is available, but I do know I don't want Vanek in the Note.
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