To those who have suggested they buy out Bjugstad but are now throwing a fit, what's your reasoning? In essence, they just did. A buyout would have cost them $3.5M in real dollars, and a cap hit this season of $600K, and next season, $1.75M. So they decided to take a $2.05M hit this season, without a hit next season. Plus a real dollars saving of $1.45M, which is relevant when you're starved for revenue. If you sign Lafferty for the minimum, the $1.5M in savings will be pay all but $50K of his and Blueger's salaries this season.
Everybody needs to take a wait and see approach. I recall reading how badly they lost the Zucker trade, and then saw it rated as the best of the deadline deals this season. Giving up a 1st and a top 50 prospect was viewed as a fleecing. What's that say about Tampa using it's two 1st rounders to acquire Coleman and Goodrow? And including their own top 50 prospect in the Coleman deal. I don't see this as the Pens trying to cut payroll because of an internal cap. JR mentioned that he had to keep the team cap compliant. Nick's $5.25M salary coming off a major injury was a bigger barrier than we thought. JR mentioned that everybody in the league is trying to cut salary. Some because of the flat cap, but a great many with self-imposed caps. Dreger said the other night that many teams are looking to stay in the low '70's.
There's been numerous RFA signings. The highest cap hit to date was given to Fabbri by Detroit. It's $2.95M. No one has been given more. Read into it what you'd like. But here's a couple of quotes from JR.
“You’ve got to realize that teams don’t know how much money they’ll be making next season and moving forward,” he said. “Plus, teams all thought (before the pandemic) the salary cap for next season was going to be anywhere between $3 million and $6 million higher than what it is. So, everyone is in a pretty difficult situation, and that includes us.”
“First things first, we need to get to a point where we are comfortable that we’ll be compliant with the cap,” Rutherford said.”
“It’s been an extremely busy five or six weeks,” he said. “Phone is ringing a lot. There’s a lot of talk about a lot of things around the league right now. Everybody is trying to put themselves in a spot where they are comfortable financially. In today’s climate, it’s really tough. Everyone is trying to make deals, but coming up with fair deals is really hard. Everyone is worried about the cap. Everyone. Not just this year, but into the future. And remember, we have an expansion draft next season. There are so, so many variables right now. It’s just not easy for anyone. But that said, we have some moves to make, and we’d like to change this team around.”
Rutherford will continue hitting the phones this weekend and beyond. Unhappy with his team’s performance during the past two seasons, he wants to change the supporting cast but to keep Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang on his roster.
The work continues.
“We’ll see what happens next,” he said. “I’ll do everything I can to make this a better hockey team.”
First off, the talk about JR going back on what he said at the end of the season is misplaced. He still says the same things. He'd like to change things up. It's not like he isn't trying! But he's not a magician when there doesn't appear to be anyone comfortable with their situation. It's not just the cap, it's real dollars. And it's not just flat for one season. There's no way it doesn't remain flat in '21-'22. Not with the likelihood of playing at least a part of the season with no fans, or a small percentage of capacity. Not to mention the possibility of the season being shortened depending on when they can start. You've got to be prepared. Not just the Pens, but everybody.
Priority one is compliance. The deal likely allows for that with the current roster, even after re-signing all of their remaining RFAs. His comments on McCann suggests they are leaning toward keeping him. Which leads me to believe that they feel his contract demands will be reasonable. He stated he was a little concerned about that at season's end. Realistically, even after the trade, they are going to be close to the cap.
JR wasn't misleading anybody. It's going to be a process, and they have to see what they can actually do. They aren't unique. It's across the league. Everybody is looking to dump salary, but there's no takers. In less than a month, the buyout period will likely be very active. Which will increase the number of players on the UFA market. I keep seeing people estimate Haula's salary as $3M. Normally, I'd say that's a bit light. But he may actually have to take a pay cut from his current $2.75M cap hit. I suspect you'll see a lot of bargain prices this season. Likely short term and low dollar. JR hopes to be able to participate, but still has to clear cap room to do so in a meaningful way. So there's work to be done.
Getting younger and changing things up was the plan. It still is. But you may have to take a different tact. You may have to count on some of the prospects to take a step forward. Like they did in '15-'16 with the WBS group. Or like the Caps did the year they had to purge salary because the cap caught up to them. They were roundly panned that summer, and were expected to take a dramatic fall. Instead they won the Cup.
At some point, you've got to give people a shot to sink or swim. Some aren't comfortable with Blueger because he hasn't been a 3C before. Although he really was for 80% of the season. But he actually stacks up fine against most of the suggestions I've seen. Lafferty looked like he may had taken a step forward when they had the camp games this summer. He's been in the league for a season. It might be worth giving him a regular spot to lose. Perhaps the re-tooling of the bottom six will have to include guys like Poulin, O'Conner, Angello, and Miletic. They are no more unknown than Rust, Sheary, Kuhnhackl, etc. You don't always have to go outside the organization to change thigs up.
It's also safe to assume that the team will be a WIP a good portion of the season, and they likely will be active at the deadline. I'm sure he'll continue to try and clear cap space by moving out a contract or two. Maybe he can, maybe he can't. But that's the climate. So you deal with it. Before going overboard on the criticism, wait to see what happens elsewhere around the league.
Next up is the Murray deal, and the RFA signings.
But as far as the Bjugstad deal, if you were a proponent of buying him out, they did.
