Over the past few days I have received a number of questions regarding the Penguins salary cap situation heading into the 2016-17 season. If you were to visit a site like
General Fanager it already has the Penguins $2,407,409 over the cap. On the surface that seems very bad, but it is a little misleading.
General Fanager currently has the salary cap at 71.4M on the website. That isn't going to be the final number. The NHLPA just exercised the escalator clause to bump the cap up 5%. This move by the NHLPA could bring the cap ceiling up to 74.97M. This would certainly give the Penguins much more wiggle room to work worth. Conservatively speaking there are concerns about the Canadian dollar and lower ratings for the Stanley Cup Final.
Larry Brooks wrote the following:
According to a source with ties to the Players’ Association, the cap — set at $71.4 million this year — would be reduced to approximately $69.3M for 2016-17 unless the PA triggers the 5 percent escalator. If the union does exercise the bump, then the cap should increase to approximately $72.8M. The union, which debated the issue at meetings at the end of the week, has voted for the increase all but once.
Even if that were the case you are still talking about the cap rising to 72.8M which gives the Penguins (and every team) more space to work with.
Another reason not to be concerned with the Penguins cap space? General Fanager has Pascal Dupuis' 3.75M cap hit still on their books which won't be the case when the season begins. Technically a player cannot be on long term injured reserve in the offseason so most sites still include the cap hit. In reality that cap hit will disappear on opening night. Remember that you can also go 10% above the salary cap in the summer so Dupuis being on the books won't hurt Pittsburgh's ability to make moves in the offseason.
Here is a breakdown I have put together of the players they have under contract at this moment
Pittsburgh is still retaining $1,125,000 this year for Rob Scuderi that needs to be included in this as well.
Adding everything up the Penguins current amount of cap space for 2016-17 is currently $70,057,499 for a 21 man roster (13F, 6D, 2G).
This is lower than the $74,970,000 upper cap limit with the escalator activated and also lower than the Larry Brooks' projection of $72,800,000.
The team doesn't have too many decisions to make regarding their own free agents. Beau Bennett is going to be qualified (800k) and Pittsburgh will need to evaluate whether or not to bring back Justin Schultz and/or Ben Lovejoy.
The Penguins can create more space through trades in the coming weeks if they need to. Marc-Andre Fleury's 5.75M cap hit is a likely candidate to be moved. I also believe the Penguins could comfortably move on from Ian Cole's 2.2M and Eric Fehr's 2.0M and not miss a beat.
So don't be alarmed if you are looking at salary cap sites and you see the Penguins are currently over the limit. Most times Pascal Dupuis' cap hit is being included and the escalator has not been calculated into the site yet. Pittsburgh still has some wiggle room to play around with.
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You may have noticed Daniel Sprong during the Stanley Cup celebration in a sling. He was injured while practicing towards the tail end of the team's Stanley Cup run. It is anticipated that he will miss 7-8 months. This definitely takes him out of the running to make the team at the beginning of the year. Conservatively speaking he should be out until mid-February. This is unfortunate for the player. Rehabbing injuries like this are a pain in the ass. Severe shoulder injuries are very restrictive in the rehab process. It isn't like a hand or a wrist injury where you can still train your lowers. The shoulder needs to stay stable so things like skating and running are out the window for a large stretch of time. Not only will Sprong have to rehab the shoulder but he will have the heavy burden of getting his fitness up to par mid-season when everybody else is firing on all cylinders.
I don't think the odds were great he was going to stick with the Penguins in 2016-17 and the only other option is junior hockey. I don't think the shoulder is any more of a setback in his development than the CHL transfer rule that prevents him from the AHL. Sprong's 2016-17 season will likely follow the same path it did in 2015-16 after being sent back down. He will play in the QMJHL when he is healthy again. He will join the Baby Penguins (if they are still alive) after his junior team's season is over. He will join the big club (if they are still alive) after the Baby Penguins season is over.
The 2017-18 season is probably when we see Daniel Sprong in Pittsburgh on a full time basis.
Thanks for reading!
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