cap room

wright · Veteran Member

cap room

barry33 · Guru

wright wrote:

Although one can debate as to whether Gainey paid too much to resign Koviu, the reality is the resigning should not hinder the Habs in pursuit of free agents in the off season. Presently the club's payroll sits around 33 million. It would appear that the salary cap for next season may move as high as 42 million. Even with the incremental pay increases next season to the likes of Bulis,Ryder,Markov (their negotation strength is limited due to their years in the league) and of course Theo's 1 million dollar increase next season, Gainey should still have enough manouverability to acquire a quality free agent , providing of course a player he wants also wants to sign in Montreal. Additionally, Gainey could free up some cap space possibly by off loading someone like Zednik with his 1.8 million dollar contract, or perhaps Dandenault with his 1.7 million dollar contract. Of course based on their performances this season, easier said than done. obviously salary dead weights like Bonk and his 2.4 million dollar contract is not going anywhere. Nonetheless the Canadiens are in a better place than a majority of teams when it comes to salary cap issues, and with the likes of Latendresse, Alexi Yemelin ready to come up within a year or two and the continued development of Plekanec, Higgins and Perezhogin these players will not cost the team a bundle leaving some payroll flexibility. Not to say everything is great, Huet is an unrestricted free agent and may cost a significant amount to resign.

You are making one very important assumption. That if the cap goes up, Gillette will open the wallet. He has not had a history of doing that. Personally I do NOT feel comfortable at all right now as their are too many "ifs". If I could get the right 6 numbers tonite I could be a millionaire

wright · Veteran Member

Point well taken Barry. The unknown is whether Mr.Gillette would be willing to open up the pocket book and approve a significant free agent signing. The Habs still have an atrocious lease deal on the Bell Center, and even though they sell out every game, they are not one of the have teams financially in the league. Although with the increasing value of the Canadian dollar they are not is as bad a financial shape as they once were.

Gillette did okay the re signing of Kovalev, and did approve the deal with Theodore. He strikes me as a major fan as well as owner, so if Gainey has a player that he thinks could represent a significant up grade I believe that Gillette would sign off on it. At least I hope he would!

AB Habman · Guru

Another thing also Wright is that you can't assume he can unload players that you mentioned as he hasn't been able to do that yet! We may be stuck with more underachievers than you think rather than just Theo eating away at the Cap space!