We can Keep Hossa/Franzen/Hudler

[revmo10 3]

I was thinking about the way KH signed Zetterberg to a 12 year deal instead of a 10 year deal to lower his cap hit and I came up with an idea:

First, this is assuming we want Hossa/Franzen/Hudler to remain Red Wings for the rest of their careers. And I don't know how "legal" this would be but assuming contracts don't affect your cap numbers once a player retires, whats to say we couldn't sign these three to very long contracts that would essentially keep them a Red Wing years after they were ready to retire? We could front load the contracts so they are happy now and just add a bunch of 1 mil/ year deals to the last, say, 10 years of their contract... Like Hossa gets a 20 year deal worth 70 million, have it be front loaded, so he gets most of his money in the first 10 years, and then who cares about the last 10 years because he will retire at 39 years old and we won't have to worry about the last 10 years. But, at the same time, his cap hit is only 3.5 million! You could do the same with Franzen and Hudler (at a lower cap hit) and keep all three players...

I know this is definitely a loophole that the CBA must somehow cover, but isn't it exactly what they did with Z since they added 2 years at only 1 mil each? Odds are Hanks back won't allow him to play much longer than 38 years old, so really, we lowered his cap hit with years he probably won't play anyway.

What are your thoughts? I can't believe KH hasn't at least explored this idea. If that won't work, I say we concentrate on Hossa and Franzen and if Hudler signs an offer sheet with someone else....at least we get compensated with draft picks to secure the future.

On a side note...we will definitely need to start finding a new "Lidstrom" soon. And we'll need money to do this.....

HMMMMM....food for thought.

[norrisnick 1]

Nothing that extreme would be allowed.

There is a blanket "no circumvention of the salary cap" rule that covers pretty much every aspect of the CBA. Anything that might be construed as shady ways to lower a cap hit isn't allowed. A frontloaded contract taking a player to age 40? Fine. A frontloaded contract that stretches until a player is 50? Not so much.

[revmo10 3]

Nothing that extreme would be allowed.

There is a blanket "no circumvention of the salary cap" rule that covers pretty much every aspect of the CBA. Anything that might be construed as shady ways to lower a cap hit isn't allowed. A frontloaded contract taking a player to age 40? Fine. A frontloaded contract that stretches until a player is 50? Not so much.

I figured there had to be something that covered that. well, it was fun to think about...

[ComradeWasabi 109]

After a player turns 35, the club is responsible for paying out the rest of his contract regardless of whether or not he retires. Oh yeah, and it still counts against the cap. So those salaries would still be on the books for 10 years even though Hoss wouldn't be playing any more.

[norrisnick 1]

After a player turns 35, the club is responsible for paying out the rest of his contract regardless of whether or not he retires. Oh yeah, and it still counts against the cap. So those salaries would still be on the books for 10 years even though Hoss wouldn't be playing any more.

That rule is only in effect for contracts signed AFTER the player turns 35. And then only for the years after the 1st year of said contract. I'm pretty sure the only players that rule applies to currently on the Wings are Lidstrom, Osgood, and Draper.

[ComradeWasabi 109]

That rule is only in effect for contracts signed AFTER the player turns 35. And then only for the years after the 1st year of said contract. I'm pretty sure the only players that rule applies to currently on the Wings are Lidstrom, Osgood, and Draper.

Are you sure? I was under the impression that it worked like I had stated above (obviously.) I'd like to see the actual rule as it's written but I don't know where to look.

[therock48880 14]

That rule is only in effect for contracts signed AFTER the player turns 35. And then only for the years after the 1st year of said contract. I'm pretty sure the only players that rule applies to currently on the Wings are Lidstrom, Osgood, and Draper.

That's my understanding also.

[Blueliner 69]

I was thinking about that idea the other day. But i was thinking something crazy like 100 years to get the cap hit really low. Thought about bringing it up, but thought that it wouldn't work.

[egroen 384]

Are you sure? I was under the impression that it worked like I had stated above (obviously.) I'd like to see the actual rule as it's written but I don't know where to look.

He's right, you have to have signed a multi-year contract after the age of 35.

One of these days I'll just need to save parts that keep coming up again, but I have not done so yet...

[ComradeWasabi 109]

Anyways, I'm sure that both the league and the PA would freak the f*** out if that happened.