tomato
Rejoint: oct. 2018
Messages: 526
Mentions "j'aime": 305
I wouldn't call it crippling, but it is definitely a blow to our future chances of winning a cup. An increase of 2.5 - 4.0 Million a year in that span means the huge contracts to the big 3 wouldn't have mattered as much. The circumstances around a global pandemic couldn't be foreseen so i have nothing bad to say about how management has handled the cap so far. I think Dubas and Pridham have done well by avoiding signing bad contracts. I think they could have gotten Marner and Matthews a million or so cheaper each, but big deal.
It sounds like the league will not be handing out CBOs, which is a good thing in my opinion since the leafs have no real 'bad contracts' to buy out. The extra space we would have had with a regular cap increases would have let us possibly go after Hamilton after next year, i don't see how that happens now. I expect Dermott to be penny pinched on a bridge deal. Johnsson or Kap to be traded during the 'offseason' to make a little space for some sort of right side D upgrade. Dermott might be dangled in a trade as well, which i would hate. I pray that Barabanov, Robertson, Lehtonen, Liljegren all work out and can fill out the roster with cheap options.
I think Anderson is gone when his contract ends. We wont have the space to pay him, especially considering he will be 32. Hyman while he has proven to be very useful i don't feel like paying him ~5M when he hits free agency as well. Unless he wants to takes team friendly deal in terms of cap number and length i dont think can be resigned either.
I hope that this stagnation in the cap will be reflected in the UFA signings. I hope management of each team all stand pat and penny pinch the UFA class knowing that the cap be increasing to give them breathing room after giving out big contracts. This might keep the market low enough for us to sign some useful players to cheap deals.