Compliance Buy Out

[Donnie D]

The owner's proposal would allow one player to be bought out prior to the 2013 - 2014 season and not count against the cap hit. The obvious candidate would seem to be Ohlund, but if he is bought out next year, it really isn't too bad of a cap hit. I don't believe that this provision would help the Lightning much. They don't have a Luango type contract (other than Vinny???) or player buried in the minors. I could see them doing it to Ohlund just to remove his salary.

[ChaseSpace]

Most likely Ohlund. If they buy-out Vinny then the backlash would be tremendous.

[Mike]

Originally Posted by ChaseSpace

Most likely Ohlund. If they buy-out Vinny then the backlash would be tremendous.

Yes, any Vinny talk needs to be nipped in the bud before it happens. If it absolutely came to having to clear Vinny's salary, you trade Vinny before buying him out, which would be horrendous asset management.

Using the same assumptions I made with Ohlund, the Lightning would be obligated to pay Vinny approximately $50m over the remaining term of his deal. That's a shade over $33m in real salary you're going to fork over to get cap compliant before having to address the gaping hole you created in your second line. All the while, yes, pissing off a significant portion of your fanbase. Es no bueno.

[aapbolt]

Will other teams use the one time buyout provision to unload white elephant contracts and if so could any of those players be singable for less and could they help us. Further if the cap is 60 million, how close are we and other teams to the cap and how will contracts be cut or players released to meet the cap? Which of course leads to maybe we can improve our team by adding players who are released.

[ChaseSpace]

Originally Posted by aapbolt

Will other teams use the one time buyout provision to unload white elephant contracts and if so could any of those players be singable for less and could they help us. Further if the cap is 60 million, how close are we and other teams to the cap and how will contracts be cut or players released to meet the cap? Which of course leads to maybe we can improve our team by adding players who are released.

If they're treating the cap the same way now as the owners wanted it done earlier in negotiations then while it is a $60million cap teams would be allowed to exceed it for a year(I'm guessing they would extend that into next season since this would only be a half season) before they have to get under the cap limit.

[aapbolt]

Thanks Chase, I thought about the allowance over the cap, but also thought they might set a limit on the overage. You are surely correct that they would extend because this year will be shortened. It should be interesting to see what happens.

[Mike]

Originally Posted by Donnie D

The obvious candidate would seem to be Ohlund

Obvious answer is obvious.

if [Ohlund] is bought out next year, it really isn't too bad of a cap hit. I don't believe that this provision would help the Lightning much.

It'd be great, actually. Prior to the lockout, Ohlund was owed a remaining $11.75m on his deal. If the Lightning end up only paying him 50% for this season, that's only $9.25m remaining and if the buyout terms are still the same (2/3 of remaining amount on contract), that's $6.17m to shed a $3.6m cap hit for this and three remaining seasons.

I could see them doing it to Ohlund just to remove his salary.

You have to think of him as dead cap-space. There's no easier tell than looking at the Salo signing to realize that Ohlund is done here. Buying out Ohlund is smart in all facets: you're cutting loose a non-contributor, saving some real $ in the process and getting within or very close to cap compliance in the pending CBA (assuming the $60m figure being floated around as the league's proposal is accurate and the player's don't try to bargain a higher number).

[Donnie D]

Listened to SportsNet today and they spent some time discussing how difficult it would be for Tampa under the proposed compliance buyout and cap at $60 million next year. They asked the question of whether players with no movement clauses could be included which would complicate things further. They speculated that the players had to go back with a $65-67 million transitional cap for 2014.