Q About the Canadian Teams Not Having Fans in the Buildings & Possible Effect on Next Year's Cap

[Taro T]

Has anybody seen anything from any of the pundits on how having a few of the Canadian teams being required by their Provincial governments to keep fans out of their buildings may end up (presumably) effecting next year's cap?

If the cap stays flat again next year rather than going up slightly, that could put a LOT of teams tight against the cap.  If they are, maybe the Sabres can weaponize their ridiculous cap space into some Leddy / Boychuk for a 2nd deals that allowed the Aisles to effect a major course correction before the '14-'15 season started.

Haven't seen anything regarding that subject, but have been ridiculously busy lately.  Any thoughts?

[thewookie1]

Supposedly it will only effect the time it take for the cap to move up more than 1mil per year.

So next year the cap will go up 1mil, and barring a miracle; will go up 1mil the following year and so on until the league reaches it's intended target.

[Taro T]

2 hours ago, thewookie1 said:

Supposedly it will only effect the time it take for the cap to move up more than 1mil per year.

So next year the cap will go up 1mil, and barring a miracle; will go up 1mil the following year and so on until the league reaches it's intended target.

Well, even keeping the increase next year to $1MM could help free up some useful parts.

The team has cap space coming out the wazoo next year (just like this one); they need to utilize it wisely to upgrade what they have & have enough space 2-3 years from now to pay the guys that earn raises and are expected to be here LT.

[GASabresIUFAN]

I hate to say this but the lower the cap stays the harder it will be for many teams to hold on to players giving us a better opportunity to utilize our cap space to steal a needed player or 3.

[tom webster]

I’m pretty sure no matter what, the cap will stay flat for at least two more years before a pretty significant escalation 

[Taro T]

6 minutes ago, tom webster said:

I’m pretty sure no matter what, the cap will stay flat for at least two more years before a pretty significant escalation 

But if it remains flatter than expected, it could affect a lot of teams' cap management strategies & there might be some good deals available for a low salary team w/ a cash flush owner to capitalize on.

Kind of what Golisano & Quinn expected would be the case in the summer of '06 when they didn't give out any multi-year deals in '05.  Rather than the cap increase that actually occurred.

Expecting the Sabres won't capitalize, but there may actually be an opportunity for a savvy GM to do so.

[tom webster]

8 minutes ago, Taro T said:

But if it remains flatter than expected, it could affect a lot of teams' cap management strategies & there might be some good deals available for a low salary team w/ a cash flush owner to capitalize on.

Kind of what Golisano & Quinn expected would be the case in the summer of '06 when they didn't give out any multi-year deals in '05.  Rather than the cap increase that actually occurred.

Expecting the Sabres won't capitalize, but there may actually be an opportunity for a savvy GM to do so.

Oh I agree that there will opportunities and I’m not convinced that the Sabres won’t pounce. I said before, I can see them using the offer sheet once they are convinced that they have built up sufficient depth and are ready to add pieces.

[woods-racer]

32 minutes ago, tom webster said:

Oh I agree that there will opportunities and I’m not convinced that the Sabres won’t pounce. I said before, I can see them using the offer sheet once they are convinced that they have built up sufficient depth and are ready to add pieces.

Three things need to happen to luck into a NYI cap dump event.

1. COVID ends. Out of the Sabres control

2. The league gets serious on enforcing the cap. No more taxi squads and ways around the cap. Out of the Sabres control.

3. Sabres are ready for a serious multi year push of playoff runs. That they have control over. 

If 1 and 2 happen sometime between June of 2022 and September of 2023 the Sabres should be poised to be in a great position to *help* other teams relieve themselves of their over budget players with relatively short terms left on their contracts. KA would be an idiot not to expect this to happen and his analytics department has to be getting ready for this.