Snapshots: Cap Overages, Strachan, Rinaldo, Stransky

CapFriendly released a series of tweets today outlining the teams that suffered cap overages in 2015-16 and will thus feel the effect in 2016-17. Overage penalties are incurred when players with bonus-laden contracts meet the contractual criteria to receive those bonuses. The resulting payout is attributed to the prior season, in which the bonuses were earned, but if the increases put the team over the salary cap for that year, the overage carries over as a cap penalty in the following season. The following teams had players earn bonuses that put the team’s salary cap payroll over the 2015-16 salary cap limit, and CapFriendly has calculated rough estimates of the accompanying penalty against the 2016-17 cap:

• Another player looking to get back to the NHL is the Bruins’ Zac Rinaldo. WEEI’s D.J. Bean caught up with Rinaldo’s agent, Todd Reynolds, who says he hopes to see Rinaldo given another chance this season. After trading a 3rd-round pick to the Philadelphia Flyers last summer to get Rinaldo, Boston was happy with his grit and intensity early in the year. However, as young players pushed for ice time and the Bruins focused more on scoring and fighting for a playoff spot, Rinaldo got into fewer and fewer games. Eventually, he was put on waiver, went unclaimed, and was optioned to AHL Providence in February. Rinaldo was not recalled for the remainder of the season, and now questions what his role is in the organization. While Rinaldo is likely to get the chance to earn a spot in Boston during training camp and the pre-season, the Bruins have several young grinders like Noel Acciari and Tyler Randell who played well last year, as well as young scorers like Seth Griffith, Danton Heinen, and Jake DeBrusk who will look to earn NHL spots. Factor in the additions of Riley Nash and Dominic Moore, and there appears to be very few energy line spots up for grabs. Rinaldo’s NHL future is very much in doubt right now.

• The Bruins are giving another player whose future was once in doubt a fighting chance, as 2016 NHL Draft pass-over Simon Stransky has been invited to rookie camp. The biggest surprise left on the board in June, Stransky was a point-per-game player in juniors this past season, and is considered by many to be an elite offensive talent who is held back by his mediocre defensive game. However, if an organization that emphasizes the two-way game, like the Bruins, can work on developing his defensive game, his scoring and play-making skill could make him a great value find.