[ja07]

Hi guys. Its Aussie Joe again

With the signing of Peter Forsberg I think we might have some salary cap issues?

Based on http://tsn.ca/nhl/feature.asp?fid=6926 the flyers have 17 signings for $33 million. With out sugar coating the situation (being from Oz I dont fully follow all the trades and cap issues etc) , are we going to have some major salary cap issues before the puck drups in october.

The general consensus on the ESPN forum is that the Flyers are in trouble, I thought I would come home and ask your opinion

[Travis]

Well, the Markov trade helped us out. Losing his salary was good. Everyone thought it was a bad move when it happened, but now we see what Clarkie had up his sleeve and he looks like a genius. We're going to need to trade someone else though to get fully under, probably Roenick. We're under the cap right now, but we still have some Restricted Free Agents to sign. It's been rumored Roenick is gone to Los Angeles; I guess we might find out at the Flyers press conference which is schedule for this morning.

[Hyperfried]

The question is, well, er, what is the cap?

[eleven24]

The 2005-06 cap figure is $39 Million US. Player contracts are averaged out, and counted against the cap. For example, Forsberg's contract is reportedly $5.7M this year, and $5M next year. That is a $10.7M contract over 2 years, or $5.35M per year against the cap.

GM Bob Clarke has said that he would like to keep the Flyers total payroll at $37M, leaving the team $2M under the cap for "emergency purposes". Smart thinking here.

The problem is, Forsberg put the Flyers $2.7M OVER the cap, and in order for Clarke to reach his magic number of $37M, he must free up, or trade away about $5M of salary. Roenick is slated to make $4.9M this season, so it seems logical that he is dealt (although I'm hearing otherwise).

Under the new CBA, teams were to offer their unsigned players (RFA's) a qualifying offer of 10% more than their previous salary. It gets a bit tricky here, because part of the new CBA was a 24% pay cut to ALL players salaries from the 2003-04 season. The qualifying offer is 10% above that number.

The Flyers have made qualifying offers to Kim Johnsson ($2.12M) and Simon Gagne ($1.97M), of which neither player has yet to accept. (NOTE: The qualifying offers to Gagne & Johnsson are already included in the current cap). The $2M room Clarke is looking for could be needed to sign Johnsson and Gagne, should either of them demand more money.

Some other options Clarke has could be dealing one of, if not multiple of the following:

Desjardins $2.28M
Handzus $2.13M
Brashear $1.75M

[ja07]

Thanks Eleven24 :toothless

I think that Gagne is getting much less than his real market value with that deal. Hopefully he is enticed to stay with the acquisition of Forsberg

What is the situation with Esche and Nittymaki? I heard that they arent signed yet

[Hyperfried]

Well...

The Flyers have a payroll of about $29M, according to TSN, with their current roster. They still haven't signed a lot of guys, such as Gagne, Esche, Johnsson, Radivojevic, etc.

[ja07]

Hopefully thats enough to at least get back Esche Gagne and Johnson (and maybe Rado)

[tmcc]

I really hope Rado shows his true colors this year. I checked his stats on TSN and he can definately score goals. I hope he steps up...