With all the recent talk about going after UFA's this summer and the $$$ amounts that are being thrown around here, it got me thinking about the worth of players as a dollar amount and how the cap going down will affect the money players get moving forward as UFA's with a 50/50 split instead of the 57% they've been used to since the cap came in.
The shortened NHL season has the cap at 60 million, can spend to a pro-rated 70.2 million. However, it doesn't state that teams can spend pro-rated amounts next season and the cap will be 64.3 million. With a lot of UFA's coming up this summer, Holland can try and get a couple good players, but the days of handing out 7.5 mil for Parise/Suter types are probably over for now. Guys stating that Perry and Getzlaf or even Semin should get signed for 8 million per year better take a good look at the upcoming cap and consider the fact that it's revenue based on when/if the cap goes up. The lockout screwed the momentum and while most of us fans came back, a lot didn't. Cap management will be difficult for the next few years for GM's and they won't be able to throw monster offers at guys or they won't have any depth whatsoever (see the Wild) and they won't have enough roster players.
We can all to capgeek, but Wikipedia also gives some good information http://en.wikipedia..../NHL_salary_cap. Realistically, if the NHL wants to limit the crazy overpayments to players, it starts with the GM's and keeping guys like Perry and Getzlaf under 7 million cause the cap likely won't be anywhere near 70 million in the near future. Don't be surprised to see Perry sign for 6.7ish and Getzlaf at about 5.8. The lower cap, GM's can't afford to be idiots with their money like the Wild's GM and winners like Garth Snow.
The cap being lowered ultimately dropped the value of each player by 10% regarding their cap hit.
















