Quite honestly I am not a fan of the Sedins in this new NHL. I was leary of them before the lockout of 2004, and warmed up to them slowly as they developed into the players they were at the end of 2011-12. During the shortened 2012-13 season I began to wonder if they were worth re-signing as it seemed that opposing teams had figured them out and they were becoming less effective. They have done nothing to change that opinion this season.Island Nucklehead wrote:Did they get a raise?Zedlee wrote: I dont' like giving raises and 4 year deals to players whose best years are behind them.
They signed $12.2M combined against a cap of $56.8M or 21.4% of the teams cap.
Next year they are $14M combined against a cap of $71.1M or 19.6% of the teams cap.
However, the numbers you posted there Island are eye opening and I had not thought to look at their contracts as percentages of total team cap. When one considers that they are now earning a lesser percentage of our overall cap, and that the salary cap will likely go up yet again for 2015-16, their contracts don't look all that bad. Essentially Gillis just gained 1.8% (possibly more down the road) in cap room by re-signing a pair of top 6 forwards to 4 year terms. Looking at things in that light, I don't care if they start scoring at 60 point pace if Gillis can find a couple of players to skate with Kesler on a top line.
The way Kassian is starting to develop, particularly his playmaking ability, coupled with the chemistry he appears to be developing with Kesler, I think that finding a winger in the mold of Evander Kane would more than offset the "decline" of the Sedins.
So pipe dream away.....say we get Kane.
Kane-Kesler-Kassian $12.25M (being generous and giving Kassian $2M on like a 3 year deal)
Sedin-Sedin-Burrows $16.5M (face it folks, nobody gels with the Sedins like Bur, they have missed him)
That's could be a pretty deadly top 6.....and it would cost us $28.75M 40% of our cap.
Figure another $18M for our top 4 defensemen, there's another 25% of our cap. (Obviously one of our current top 5 gets moved and I'm saying Edler goes and Tanev stays at around $3.5+M).
Leaves 35% of our cap for goaltenders, 6 forwards, and 2 defensemen, plus parts.
Well even if Luongo hangs around for another couple of years, between him and Eddie there goes 9% more. So now down to 26% of our total cap to fill out the roster.
So roughly $17M left to fill out 8 player spots. That's actually pretty easily done if we are going the route that Gillis has preached and start injecting youth into the lineup because we can probably allocate $6M to the 4th line, and that would buy a pretty stellar 4th line, another $5M to the bottom pairing, and then use youngsters on entry level deals to round out 3 other spots plus parts.
Factor in an growing cap ceiling and things don't look all that bad at all.
