There's no rule preventing teams from paying more in real dollars in a given year than the cap ceiling, so I'm not really sure why people are concerned about a team spending fewer real dollars in a given year than the cap floor. In fact, contracts like the ones the Senators have been collecting only exist to allow teams to front-load contracts, and effectively circumvent the cap. I'm not thrilled to see an owner using the same logic in reverse, but I'm pretty sure you'd get a lot more complaints about restricting the number of real dollars you could spend in a year, than about setting a lower limit in that regard.

by July 1st 2020 Chabot will be traded, and the following year, if his development goes the way like his brothers has, Brady will be traded so you can forget about this whole 5 year spending to the cap crap, melnyk has no money to pay Chabot and Brady their bonus laden contracts, as both will want Aho type contracts. As long a melnyk owns the team they will be a farm team for the rest of the NHL.

I am convinced the reason White has not signed a new contract yet is because he want s 3 year one to get him to UFA and then leave ASAP. The number is hockey analysts saying melnyk has no bigness owning a NHL team is increasing rapidly with each move OTT makes or does not make.
- Athrin

Duh!

Fascinating that hockey insiders are now repeating what every fan in Ottawa has been saying since Melnyk tried to screw over Daniel Alfredson. It is very easy to be a fan of this team but not of the the owner.

Melnyk's silence brings some hope that we are close to the end.

oops

To be fair, this is the perfect time to cut spending with the state of the franchise. Once Karlsson wanted out, regardless of his reasons, then it made sense to trade Stone Duchene and Dzingel and go for a full rebuild for once instead of the constant half measures that has plagued the franchise the past decade.

They have solid young pieces already in the NHL, plenty of young depth at most positions and a plethora of draft picks in the first 3 rounds. Cutting salaries as low as possible while staying above the cap floor just makes sense, especially for a small franchise like us.

The problem will come if Melnyk refuses to pay guys like White, Chabot, Tkachuk and any other young piece coming up in the next 2 years. There is absolutely zero excuse to trade any of them when the franchise is rebuilding and they are our current best pieces.

Since the NHL contracts are all guaranteed, (unlike the NFL) They need to remove the frontloading and signing bonuses

If a guy signs a 5 year 30 million then its 6 million per times 5 years

If he wants 10 million per in the first 2 years, then him and the team need to agree to 10 million times 2 years, not the current back diving nonsense setup

That would get rid of all this nonsense. Make a guy with LTIR status untradeable. It's the team who signed that guy's problem, let them deal with it

Sorry. Circumventing means breaking the rules. Ottawa, like others, are using the nuances of a Cap world - just like those who use the LTIR to go beyond the defined cap - it was contemplated when the the CBA was drafted and understood by all. The movement of the Clarkson deal is another example - all within the rules of the negotiated CBA.

it's amusing that you believe this.
- Tumbleweed

This is not about crashing costs for the sake of crashing costs. This is about lip stick.

The problem will come if Melnyk refuses to pay guys like White, Chabot, Tkachuk and any other young piece coming up in the next 2 years. There is absolutely zero excuse to trade any of them when the franchise is rebuilding and they are our current best pieces.
- Pasky

This here is why I was so mad we didn't sign Stone - he would've been a great captain to have during a rebuild. He was well-liked by the crowd. And what he ended up signing for was, IMO a fair number considering his age, and depth. He wasn't a superstar at any one thing, but was really good at many things.

It's not nearly as bad as you're making it sound? They're a team clearly rebuilding that actually has a pretty bright future. Now is not the time to be spending too much on overpriced free agents and mucking up your cap for the future.

By all accounts, they did offer Karlsson, Stone, and Duchene reasonable contracts that were right around what they ultimately signed for.

Gaborik and MacArthur were also on the team and getting paid before their injuries. The Callahan trade was just a good trade for Ottawa any way you look at it.

Sure, Melnyk us a bad owner, but what their doing this is sets them up to be successful in the future far more than spending a bunch of money on middling players that aren't going to do much anyway.
- Hunkulese

So much wrong. Let's take a look at the tape, Gene!

By all accounts, they did offer Karlsson, Stone, and Duchene reasonable contracts

No. Not by all accounts. By Pierre Dorion's account, and then repeated by unofficial team mascot Bruce "Hans Moleman" Garrioch. Argue team statements all you like, here's a fact: Dorion took Stone to arbitration less than a year before he was traded. Mark Stone. To arbitration. Let that marinate for a second. Now, tell me why you believe that PD made him a serious offer... Less than a year after sitting across the table from Stone and actually telling him "you aren't worth X amount of dollars".

Gaborik and MacArthur were also on the team and getting paid before their injuries.

Wrong. Gaborik had already missed significant time with back injuries, while playing for LA. Just because he managed to suit up for < 10 games with Ottawa doesn't mean his injuries weren't a major factor in his trade to Ottawa. There's no way the Kings would have given up a healthy Gaborik for Phaneuf. Dorion traded for him knowing his only future was on LTIR.

FWIW, McArthur had concussion issues before coming to Ottawa, as well.

The Callahan trade was just a good trade for Ottawa any way you look at it.

Except, you know, on the ice. Neither Callahan nor Condon was ever going to play for the Ottawa Senators this season. So, it was a good move for only 2 reasons (save $, give a young G more starts)... it did nothing to improve the Sens. I didn't hate the trade, but it's false to say it was a good trade any way you look at it.

Now is not the time to be spending too much on overpriced free agents

I didn't see Trevor or anyone criticize Dorion for not chasing free agents. That isn't the issue. The fact that he wouldn't pay for his own players (one of the best D in the World and one of the best defensive forwards in the World) is fair to critique. But if you want to defend free agents, could you please start with Ennis and Hainsey? I'm curious why a cement footed 38 year old defender is worth $3.5M, and a no trade clause.

sets them up to be successful in the future

Clearing the decks of salary, and by extension clearing the roster of desirable players, is all they've done. They have picks, they have cap space. Cling to those words for comfort when this team finishes 29th or worse. As TS points out in another post, Dorion has not weaponized their cap space at all. Show me one area where Melnyk has reinvested any of the money they've saved back in to the team. His bottom line is the only thing that's been improved lately.

Chabot is 100% getting offersheeted

I didn't see Trevor or anyone criticize Dorion for not chasing free agents. That isn't the issue. The fact that he wouldn't pay for his own players (one of the best D in the World and one of the best defensive forwards in the World) is fair to critique. But if you want to defend free agents, could you please start with Ennis and Hainsey? I'm curious why a cement footed 38 year old defender is worth $3.5M, and a no trade clause.

- You'reWrongBecause...

Money was never the problem. It was playing in Ottawa that was the problem. Multiple reports had the Sens offering Karlsson 10 million, Stone 9 million, and Duchene 8 million on max deals. Those are all reasonable offers and close enough that they probably could have gotten a deal done if any of them wanted to stay in Ottawa.

Sorry. Circumventing means breaking the rules. Ottawa, like others, are using the nuances of a Cap world - just like those who use the LTIR to go beyond the defined cap - it was contemplated when the the CBA was drafted and understood by all. The movement of the Clarkson deal is another example - all within the rules of the negotiated CBA.
- miser

Hence "essentially" circumventing the cap

Money was never the problem. It was playing in Ottawa that was the problem. Multiple reports had the Sens offering Karlsson 10 million, Stone 9 million, and Duchene 8 million on max deals. Those are all reasonable offers and close enough that they probably could have gotten a deal done if any of them wanted to stay in Ottawa.
- Hunkulese

But the contract structure wasn't anywhere near the same to what they got elsewhere because Melnyk cannot afford big bonuses

But the contract structure wasn't anywhere near the same to what they got elsewhere because Melnyk cannot afford big bonuses
- Trevor Shackles

There are times when offering signing bonuses work, then there are times it should not be considered. Times are great, you are spending to the cap, bringing in the most sought after players in the league to bolster your playoff chances, with a team poised to make noise. You sign your stars to long term, high cap, salary bonus laden contracts.

But what do you do, when you have done exactly that and now that same team has problems in the dressing room, your sitting in last place, pressed to the cap, to the point your having to make decisions on who to keep and who to let go, not to mention you are entertaining in front of a 2/3 crowd and have a fan led revolt against the owner. Do you spend to the cap ceiling in 30th in a 30 team league? Probably not and I think you know this. How about year 2 of this in 31st in a 31 team league, probably not. So continually harping on signing bonuses, for a rebuilding team in last place, you think they should have offered, makes no sense for a League bottom income earner team.

Karlsson did not respond to the offers, was the reason Hoffman had to be fired into the sun. Stone, Duchene and Dzingel were all offered fair dollars, (some for as much or more than contracts signed) for which I really don't care and I am actually happy we aren't handcuffed with signing bonus, untradeable, unbuyoutable contracts, pressed to the cap and still in last place in front of a 2/3rds full arena. He is essentially paying less real dollars for the same position in the standings, while properly allocating time spent on building a future core. What has happened makes more sense. This rebuild was overdue and this is how to correctly do a rebuild. This incidentally is also how you prepare your asset to be sold in a poor market. Sell off assets, getting space for future ownership to make there own mark on the roster, with an arena development in waiting, for an owner willing sign the contract and front the cash.

Money was never the problem. It was playing in Ottawa that was the problem. Multiple reports had the Sens offering Karlsson 10 million, Stone 9 million, and Duchene 8 million on max deals. Those are all reasonable offers and close enough that they probably could have gotten a deal done if any of them wanted to stay in Ottawa.
- Hunkulese

And this is the real problem, these players did not want to stay. You could see it years out from contract negotiations with some of them. They were talking about money, nearly a year before the team could even start negotiations. That and in some of the cases, had even mentioned the possibility of reaching free agency, before those negotiations could take place, before the offers could even start rolling in or other teams could have conversations with the players for market value. Stone would only sign at the numbers offered if other conditions could be met, was waiting on Duchene and Dzingel, which were both offered reasonable offers. In Dzingel's case, he lost money in free agency, while Duchene lost the 8th year on the table.

Karlsson lost nothing, but got a contract that would have bankrupted Melnyk and destroyed the Sens ability to retain the rest of the core, plus in a few short years, will be one of the most concerning contracts in the league. I wonder if Stones is gonna age as well as Turris's new contract. People who hate Melnyk say, so! That mentality is why the sell off, to get payroll under income to set up a future sale, which is also why the arena got pushed off. The players and the fans want Melnyk to do something for them, while protesting against him. It ain't gonna happen.