All they had to do was tender him an offer under the guidelines………. his bonus structure will be more affordable this time…imo

Anyway I think I’m done with this topic – it doesn’t look like a big winner for the Hawks but maybe a little savings.

I thought I was right about Huet, but then I saw the Caps put Nylander through waivers again for some reason and doubted myself. But, Nylander was already off the books vs Huet’s situation.

Beach just ended the season for the Finnish prospect according to some reports.

I doubt if Beach is on the team in October…. same with Lalonde, although he has a better chance.

I am sure they have told his agent what the score is…they don’t have to announce anything publicly.

I am going to stick with Sharp not being traded unless Nimei signs for well over $3 mill before arbitration.

I’m still unsure where you think the performance cushion helps. If Beach makes the team his cap hit is $1.17 and the performance cushion doesn’t come into play until the end of the season if he hits it.

Errr, i guess this is where I should ask – right?

I dont think the Hawks are out of cap woods yet. I think they would love to move campbell or hossa — but Sharp might very well be the only moveable one.

Wonder when the Huet shoe will drop?

Using capgeek I generated a 20 man roster (league minimum) with Niemi at 2.5 (optimistic?) that includes the above 3 players as well as Dowell, Bickell, Vishenskiy and Crawford that came in 3K under the cap with the PBC. Other scenarios of players could work as well (eg. Skille for Beach) but if they want to go with a streamlined roster and can get Niemi at 2.5 it seems do-able. Does seem like a lot of ifs though.

Its too early for a cocktail but I think you are mixing apples with oranges.

Tagging room which was needed to sign the big three is diffrent than a bonus cushion.

There is a lot we don’t know…although I could ask I know there is no way Bowman will answer nor should he.

We are assuming too many things…bonus cushions..performance bonuses..how much the Hawks actually paid out in bonuses last year.

That said they are up against it.

My guess was $5.5 for both Niemi and Hammer as being the number they could swallow without dumping more salary.

I will stick with it until proven otherwise.

Hammer got about $750,000-$1 mill more than he probably would have and that is the sticking point for now.

(Also there are no performance bonuses in Toews contract going forward)

because the CBA was extended another year recently the PBC is in effect for 10-11 which is why I raise it as a possibility for the Hawks to exploit.

Again as I understand it this was how the Hawks managed the big 3 extensions by going 4.1 over the cap limit with their PBC. Of course that 4.1 is deferred to this coming season just like a hypothetical 2M (as per my example) PBC for 10-11 would be deferred to their 11-12 cap.

If Niemi signs a longer term deal for a cap hit of say 2.8 it might all work out if my thinking on PBC is right. There are figures the public doesn’t know and this I think is one of them.

If, say, Niemi wants 12 million for four years, he could get 5/3/2/2 for example, meaning he cashes in early (assuming this is league-approved). His cap hit is still $3MM/yr.

Front loading a contract does not reduce the cap hit.

A 10 yr $80 million dollar contract, whereby most of the salary is paid out in the first five years…
still has a cap hit of $8 mill per year.

The buyout will be easier to swallow later on…also the player probably would be much easier to trade in the last few yrs of his deal as most of the money was already paid out.

But the cap hit for the team which issued the contract is the average salary per yr…. regardless of how the money is paid out.

Thanks for the nice words…

I am not sure I completely follow but maybe this will help.

At least some of the performance bonuses, if not all, could not be counted against the 2009-2010 salary cap beacuse there was no available cap space.

So the Hawks have to use cap space for this season becasue they couldn’t count all the bonuses against the season they were realized.

So the bonuses spill over into the new season 2010-2011, and reduce next year’s cap limit by about $ 4 million.

The bonus cushion allows a team to go over the cap by a certain amount…A couple of years ago the Hawks were caught because the bonus cushion in the last yr. of the CBA couldn’t be used…. 2008-2009.

So for Kane and Toews their whole cap hit including bonuses had to be assumed before the season started.

Which means the possible cap hit has to be taken before earned. That wasn’t the case last year and that is why in the Hawks case the bonuses spilled over.

It isn’t assumed every possible bonus will be earned but if so the team has to allow for the payment by reducing their cap afterwards… if they have no cap room in the prior season.

Of course I don’t pretend to know what an arbitrator thinks…

And very interesting point LTC raises regarding performance bonuses for 2010-11.

Maybe you can shed some light on my question. Any idea how the Hawks Performance Bonus Cushion is shaping up for this year? A team can go over the cap by 7.5% in potential performance bonuses which is why the Hawks could go 4.1 M over last year. All those bonuses kicked in as we know meaning the Hawks had to carry that 4.1 over to this year theoretically lowering their cap limit to 59.4 – 4.1 = 55.3. However they still have this year’s Perf. Bonus Cushion to use. If they have players with performance bonuses, the $ amt. of those (as yet unrealized bonuses) has to be included as part of their cap hit but it can up to the 7.5% over the 59.4 limit.

So what do you know if anything? I’m guessing they must have at least 1 – 2 M in PBC that they could use and thus sign Niemi to 2.5, even 3 and still fill out the roster with 800 k players. I am off base with this thinking or not? No one seems to talk about this.

BTW I’m with you on Niemi’s arb potential – 3M would be absolutely the top I could see him awarded based on the first 2 years of Halak’s contract but I think it’ll be less if it goes that far.

Keep up the good work Al.

I don’t think it is a question of bargaining power….more an either or for Niemi….

Accept what Bowman can afford now or wait for arbitration.

If I am Niemi I wouldn’t count on an arb ruling of over $2.8….I could make a case it shoud be less than $2.5.

The Hawks flexibility might be lowered in terms of what they can offer Niemi. But, that should have no bearing on what Niemi would get in arbitration.

The goalie market being what it is, would the arbitrator likely award Niemi–and would another team sign him, if so, at that amount–$3MM?

Or do the Hawks have a dollar figure ready, with thoughts of another trade to lower their cap, and if so, who goes?

Will be interesting to see what Stan’s plan is.