The Atlanta Thrashers have talked to potential unrestricted free agents Pavel Kubina and Maxim Afinogenov about contract extensions and came away believing there was some hope of re-signing them. Based on what I'm hearing, there appears to be no hope of re-signing Colby Armstrong... The Thrashers, meanwhile, are aggressively trying to sign Swedish prospect Carl Klingberg, They believe the left wing can step in now and play on their third line.
3 months ago
timmyf
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Nice find!
Kevin Allen is usually a very dependable source, especially for the Thrashers. Looks like Dudley wasn’t hyping Klingberg just to talk up the prospect pool, but there could be some complications bringing Carl over because there is still a year left on his contract with Frolunda.
Allen reported that Armstrong was unlikely to sign with Atlanta during the trade deadline frenzy. If the Thrashers can lure Klingberg, Spencer Machacek wins a spot, and Patrice Cormier lives up to the hype (personally, I don’t think he will by next year).
Good news on Kubina and Afinogenov. There are some viable replacements for Pavel on the free agent market this year and potentially within the organization, but losing a top line right winger like Max would be a tremendously difficult hole to fill for Dudley in his first year.
Great find, Timmy.
Credit where credit is due
I saw it from the one, the only, @telfo1. Though I think he got it from Kukla’s Corner…
If we add 4 rookies to the roster...
How do we hit the cap floor? We are talking more than adding Sharp or Versteeg. We might need to take a big, bad, ugly cap casualty from somebody to hit that floor.
Reaching the cap floor, reportedly $41.7 million for 2010-11, is not as daunting a task for the Thrashers front office as it may seem. Currently, according to capgeek.com, the Thrashers have just under $29.1 million committed to 11 roster players (including an injured Boris Valabik) for next year. This means that Atlanta needs just to spend $12.6 million in salary on 12, probably 13, roster spots for 2010-11.
Atlanta has four restricted free agents, three of which are extremely likely to return next season. With Ondrej Pavelec playing a full year as a part-time starter last year, Bryan Little as a former 30-goal scorer, Niclas Bergfors a 20-goal man in his rookie year, and Clarke MacArthur making $1.4 million in 2009-10, it is not unreasonable for these four to average $2 million collectively in salary next year.
Assuming a figure of $8 million to re-sign those four, Atlanta needs to spend just $4.6 million on eight roster spots; an average of $575K per position. For good measure, rookies Spencer Machacek and Patrice Cormier would get paid $858K and $875K respectively on the NHL roster.
The Thrashers could essentially fill the roster with rookies (based on the assumed figures from the RFAs) and still reach the cap floor.
Dudley won’t need to bring in a high salary player to create a roster within the salary cap budget.
Hitting cap floor not hard
Next year could be last season of CBA which means all bonuses clauses count against the cap until they can not be reached. So rookies like Bogosian and Kane start off the year counting as $3 million players.
All things Thrashers + stats: www.birdwatchersanonymous.com
by The Falconer on May 21, 2010 8:07 AM EDT up reply actions
How do we hit the cap floor?
Sometimes I wish my Leafs had your type of cap problems. We have several overpaid defensemen if you really need to hit that floor haha.
Leafs Nation: A drinking team with a hockey problem.
by nhlcheapshot on May 21, 2010 5:05 PM EDT up reply actions
I predict that the Black Hawks will not deal with the Thrashers when it comes time to dump salary and all these dreams of having Sharp or Versteeg play here will come to naught.
Can’t say I’m surprised about Armstrong. I’ve been doubtful about his willingness to stay here for some time now. To be fair, maybe he was interested but simply wants more than Dudley and the owners are willing to pay. It’s not some tragedy if Klingberg finishes out his contract in Sweden. Machacek could probably do Armstrong’s job next season.
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