Rangers Summer Salary Cap: Who Counts And How Much Against It

Jesse Spector of The New York Daily news tweeted the details of the Rangers summer roster in terms of which players count against the summer cap and for how much.  

• Notes: Salaries listed for the RFA's are just their qualifying offers and not what is being projected for their salaries next season.  Chad Kolarik total is actually the combination of charges for Kolarik, Newbury, Talbot and Grachev based on time in NHL this past season.

If the cap does go to $64 million as was reported earlier today, the Rangers would have approximately $15.5 million in space on the summer cap after counting the RFA qualifying offers.    Unlike Jesse, I am not counting Matt Gilroy and his $2.1 million qualifying offer because I do not expect him to be qualified at that large an amount, but the total for the other five RFA’s is $6.36 million.  That means the New York Rangers will approximately $22 million to sign the five RFA’s and chase Brad Richards over the summer. 

Twenty-two million is enough money to get the job done and the Rangers will also get help in September when they can LTIR Drury and send Redden down to the minors.  Being added onto the cap would potentially be a player like Tim Erixon ($1.75) who does not count against the summer cap since he did not play in the NHL at all last season.

Rumor: NHL Salary Cap $64 Million For 2011-12 Season?

According to Bob McKenzie it appears that the NHL salary cap will have an upper limit of $64 million and floor of $48 million.  Various numbers have been speculated about over the past few months in terms of where the cap would be for next season, but this is the highest of any of those that have come out so far.  If those numbers are what actually where the cap is for the 2011-12 season, then many teams will be gaining a huge amount of relief with the $4.6 million increase in the cap.  Combine that with the 10% allowance for overage in the summer and a team could have as much as $70.4 million in salary on the books before making moves to get under the ceiling.   

This news is welcomed for places like Philadelphia, Calgary, Pittsburgh, Chicago, San Jose, Boston, New Jersey and even the New York Rangers.  When you are willing to spend or have bad contracts that hamper your cap situation, increases like these are huge for the organization in attempting to compete for a championship.  

For other organizations this new might not be so welcomed.  Just as interesting as the teams that were right against the cap getting some breathing room for next season, is the amount of money that some teams who are well under the salary cap floor will have to spend to make it.  As helpful as this is to those who want to spend and compete, for those who don't want to or cannot afford to spend this is not what they want to hear.  If a team is already losing money the increase in the required amount they have to spend will only enhance those issues.

Could Rising Salary Cap Actually Keep Drury or Wolski As Rangers Next Season?

With the news the National Hockey League salary cap could rise to as high as $63.5 million next season, much of the focus has been on what teams could do with the extra money.  For the New York Rangers it makes the chase for Brad Richards much easier to complete while resigning the key restricted free agents (Callahan, Dubinsky, Anisimov, Sauer, Boyle) that the team must do as well this summer.  One aspect that has not been talked about much is whether the extra $4.1 million, if the cap goes to the max number of $63.5, could mean that some of the Rangers who have been rumored to be buyout candidates might get another year on the roster.

The main candidates that have been discussed in buyout talks have been captain Chris Drury and winger Wojtek Wolski with some speculation regarding Sean Avery as well.  Part of the reason for the buyouts was to clear room to go after Richards this summer, but with that added money the pressure to find the money for next year would be greatly reduced.

There is no question that Drury is still massively overpaid at $7.05 million against the cap next season. Working in Drury’s favor is the apparent good standing he has with the coaching staff and players within the room.  He can have value to the team as a fourth line center, faceoff man and penalty killer, but the salary itself is a killer.  In terms of the cap though the question becomes with the cap likely to go down in future years as there is a new CBA do you wait out the last year of Drury, paying the extra $3.33 million against the cap in order to save the 1.67 million off the cap in the 2012-13 season.  There is also some question whether the Rangers would truly want to buyout their current captain.

What works for Wolski in this scenario is the weak nature of the unrestricted free agent market in terms of forwards.  There are few forwards out there who have the skill to be real impact players for the $3.8 million that Wolski will make next season.  Working against Wolski is his inconsistency and inability to maximize his tremendous physical tools over the past few seasons.

The decisions on Drury or Wolski do not come in a vacuum.  Factors involved will include: projected cost of signing the five key restricted free agents listed; projected cost of signing Richards; what if any other needs the Rangers seek to fill through free agency. 

If the $4.1 million increase goes through, then it is conceivable that the Rangers could keep their key RFA’s, sign Richards and keep Drury or Wolski on the roster at their salary, but it would leave little to no other money.  The $3.33 million that would be saved in the Drury or Wolski buyout against the 2011-12 cap could be used to add more offensive scoring or even an offensive defender this summer.  While everyone is thinking about how to spend the potential new money from a cap increase, there is also the potential it means some players stick around longer than expected.