Matt,
In terms to Pitkanen going on LTIR, (which I would assume happens today). Not knowing the exact amount of room we would gain (because I believe you need to be up to/or over the cap to get the full cap hit in relief). Regardless, lets say the canes get around to or just over $4M in cap relief, what do you think JR will do? Again, I haven't read anything about an internal budget this year, but with past years one should assume that the '13-'14 Canes are running under an internal budget. Do you see them holding off and carrying the space through the beginning of the season to potentially make a move? Also, I think you pointed out recently, that the Dalpe/Welsh trade shed cap and salary? Capgeek is showing us with $535k in cap space with a projected $63,765,000 in payroll. What are your thoughts?
- CanesJKG
So as I understand the LTIR game to work it goes like this:
1) You want to be right up to but not over the cap first.
2) Then you place player on LTIR.
3) When you do it this way you get to spend up to their full cap hit amount on "replacement" player(s).
You cannot save it and for example get an $8M player for only the last couple months. You can only get a player or players up to the salary (so $4.5M in Pitkanen's case).
My wild guess is that the near-term goes like this:
1) Joni goes on LTIR which sets off a domino reaction that sees Dvorak signed, Murphy recalled from Charlotte and probably Corrente sent to Charlotte (unless Gleason goes on IR in which case maybe Corrente stays).
2) That becomes your opening day lineup.
3) JR does not go make a big or even medium trade at this time but instead decides to let the dust settle a bit and see if he can figure where even he needs help after seeing a few real games, ideally with a real lineup.
4) Unless he looks real good and comfortable in the first handful of games, Lindholm heads to Charlotte (probably short-term) to get up to speed.
5) Things get reassessed in about 2 weeks after some real games, hopefully some clarity on the nagging injuries and probably a trial run in real games for Murphy and Lindholm. Then somewhere between mid-Oct and mid-Nov you might see JR make a move if things are not going well and there are clear problems.
The wild card could be if a decent bottom 6 forward or 2 float across waivers in which case JR might make a low-risk/low-cost addition sooner rather than later.
Disclaimer: There are certain times where I feel like I have a pretty good pulse on what the team might be thinking. Now is not one of them. There are just too many things swirling around with the LTIR funny math maneuvering, rookies who could go a couple directions and the batch of injuries that mess up the lineup.
