Navigating the Salary Cap is probably one of the more important tasks for any general manager to have. Teams that can avert total cap chaos by walking the tightrope of inking players to deals that match their value (or compensate for future value without breaking the bank) remain successful. Those that don’t see struggles and front office changes.
PHR will look at every NHL team and give a thorough look at their cap situation heading into the 2018-19 season. This will focus more on those players who are integral parts of the roster versus those who may find themselves shuttling between the AHL and NHL. All cap figures are courtesy of CapFriendly.
Arizona Coyotes
Current Cap Hit: $69,341,109 (under the $79.5MM Upper Limit)
Entry-Level Contracts
D Jakob Chychrun (one year, $925K)
F Lawson Crouse (one year, $894K)
F Christian Dvorak (one year, $839K*)
F Christian Fischer (two years, $822K)
F Clayton Keller (two years, $885K)
F Brendan Perlini (one year, $863K)
F Dylan Strome (two years, $863K)
* – Dvorak has already signed an extension and will be looked at in more detail later on
Potential Bonuses
Chychrun: $425K
Crouse: $850K
Dvorak: $213K
Fischer: $230K
Keller: $850K
Perlini: $500K
Strome: $2.475MM
Total: $5.543MM
Keller has already emerged as Arizona’s top offensive threat and led the team in scoring in his rookie season. Assuming he stays healthy, he’s a near-lock to reach his full bonuses and will be in line for a significant extension two years from now. Perlini very quietly finished second on the Coyotes in goals last season and will land a considerable raise for 2019-20. It will be interesting to see if they look to go with a bridge deal for him as it’s unlikely that this entire group of ELC players will get long-term pacts right away. Fischer’s first full NHL season was a solid one and a repeat performance should allow him to more than double his current AAV on what likely will also be a bridge deal.
Strome was quite productive in the AHL last year but it didn’t translate to much in the way of NHL success. The number three pick in 2015 is in a spot where he’s too good for the minors but hasn’t played well enough to lock down a full-time NHL role. He’ll get another chance to do so in the upcoming season but isn’t a real threat to hit his bonuses. Crouse was a regular in Arizona two years ago but spent much of last season in the minors. He’ll push for a regular spot in camp but given what has happened through the first two years of his deal, a short-term pact next summer is all but a guarantee.
Chychrun quickly emerged as one of Arizona’s top defenders and has cemented a top-four spot already. He missed considerable time last year after undergoing offseason knee surgery and went under the knife once again in April so although he’s a strong candidate to sign a long-term extension, it’s likely that Arizona will want to wait to make sure there are no lingering issues before making that commitment. Fortunately for them, he appears to be on pace to start the regular season. Although he’s not much of a point producer just yet, he should still surpass the $4MM per season mark on his next deal and when that happens, the Coyotes will be looking at one of the more expensive defense corps in the league.
One Year Remaining, Non-Entry-Level
F Josh Archibald ($675K, RFA)
F Dave Bolland $5.5MM, UFA)
F Nick Cousins ($1MM, RFA)
D Jordan Oesterle ($650K, UFA)
F Richard Panik ($2.8MM, UFA)
Panik was brought in via trade from Chicago last year and while he fell short of repeating his 44-point campaign in 2016-17, he still fared relatively well. Despite that, he may be in tough to land a comparable contract as he is viewed as someone that’s a better fit outside of the top six and offensive players in that situation have been squeezed a few times on the open market in recent years. Cousins doubled his career high in goals last season despite still playing a fairly limited role which gave Arizona another good value deal. He should be able to get a small raise on his next contract but because he’s more of a depth player, he won’t be able to get a big increase despite having arbitration rights. Oesterle and Archibald project to be extras to start the season while Bolland hasn’t played since 2015-16 and won’t suit up in 2018-19.
Two Years Remaining
D Kevin Connauton ($1.375MM, UFA)
F Alex Galchenyuk ($4.9MM, UFA)
F Vinnie Hinostroza ($1.5MM, RFA)
G Darcy Kuemper ($1.85MM, UFA)
F Brad Richardson ($1.25MM, UFA)
Galchenyuk was part of one of the more notable trades of the summer that saw him head to the desert in exchange for Max Domi. He is expected to get a chance to play at center and if he holds his own there, he will significantly boost his value for his next contract even if he continues to hover around the 50-point mark. Hinostroza was brought in from Chicago as the prize for taking on the rest of Marian Hossa’s contract. He’ll slide into a middle-six role on the wing and if he can even come close to the 0.50 PPG average he had last year, he could be another bargain on the books. Richardson was brought back fairly early in free agency to reprise his fourth line role and even received a no-move clause this season as an incentive to stay. As far as fourth line centers go, he’s a good one to have around.
Kuemper wasn’t as successful in Arizona after being acquired midseason from the Kings but he’s on a contract that’s a fair bit below what the top UFA backups got in free agency this summer. At the very least, he should give them a bit more stability at the number two position, something they haven’t had a lot of as of late. Connauton very quietly posted 11 goals from the back end last season but still was only able to garner a small raise on his previous deal. While his defensive play can be shaky at times, that type of output from a third pairing blueliner is still quite useful.
Three Years Remaining
D Jason Demers ($3.938MM, UFA*)
D Alex Goligoski ($5.475MM, UFA)
F Michael Grabner ($3.35MM, UFA)
F Marian Hossa ($5.275MM, UFA)
D Niklas Hjalmarsson ($4.1MM in 2018-19, $5MM the next two years, UFA)
G Antti Raanta ($4.25MM, UFA)
F Derek Stepan ($6.5MM, UFA)
* – Florida is retaining an additional 12.5% of Demers’ contract
Arizona paid a hefty price last summer to land Stepan. While he certainly filled the number one center role, he’s a more ideal fit in a number two role. However, having that stability down the middle is still an asset as they look to turn things around. Grabner struggled after being acquired near the trade deadline by New Jersey but still tallied 27 goals for the second straight year. That was more than any Coyote player tallied while he’ll add even more speed to an already-quick attack. Hossa won’t play again due to an allergy issue but will remain on the books until his contract expires although the Coyotes will only be responsible for 20% of the payment with the rest going to insurance. His salary is only $1MM in each season since it was a highly-frontloaded deal so their actual cost is quite minimal.
Goligoski is quite consistent offensively, notching between 35 and 37 points in each of the last four years. He’s more known for his offensive game but he has emerged as a two-way threat for the Coyotes while playing top pairing minutes (despite playing on the second pair at five-on-five). Hjalmarsson dealt with injuries last year but the team likes him alongside Oliver Ekman-Larsson on their top pairing as a stable shutdown defender. Despite that, his deal is a bit on the pricey side. Demers isn’t quite the offensive threat he once was but can still log top-four minutes and to get that for less than $4MM is decent value for Arizona.
Raanta was the other part of the Stepan deal last offseason and it was a tale of two seasons for him. He struggled out of the gate and wound up being injured but when he returned, he played like a true number one goalie and gave the team enough confidence to lock him up. If he can play similar to how he finished last season, this could be a very team-friendly deal.
Four Or More Years Remaining
F Christian Dvorak (ELC for 2018-19, $4.45MM beginning in 2019-20 through 2024-25)
D Oliver Ekman-Larsson ($5.5MM in 2018-19, $8.25MM from 2019-20 through 2026-27)
Dvorak’s extension came out of the blue and, on the surface, was a bit perplexing. He has posted back-to-back 15-goal seasons while spending considerable time in the number two role down the middle. Clearly, the team is banking on him taking a step forward at some point offensively as thus far, his production has been closer to a third liner and $4.45MM for that type of output is on the high level. If he can get to the 45-50 point mark though, the contract will look a lot more reasonable.
There had been plenty of speculation that the Coyotes couldn’t afford to keep Ekman-Larsson around. They put that to rest quickly, inking him the first day they were eligible to do an extension. He’s a quality top pairing player and while his new deal is on the expensive side, they have received extremely good value on his current contract which offsets that somewhat.
Buyouts
F Mike Ribeiro ($1.94MM through 2019-20)
Retained Salary Transactions
G Mike Smith ($1.417MM in 2018-19)
Still To Sign
G Marek Langhamer (who is likely to remain unsigned and play overseas next season)
Best Value: Ekman-Larsson (who is still on his $5.5MM deal)
Worst Value: Hjalmarsson
(Excluding entry-level contracts)
Looking Ahead
The Coyotes head into 2018-19 with plenty of cap space and the ability to transfer Bolland and Hossa to LTIR to free up additional space if they make multiple in-season additions. Right now, they’re benefitting from so much surplus value on their entry-level deals so they will have to show that ownership is willing to spend more to keep this core intact a couple of years from now. They won’t have to get to the level of being a cap-spending squad to do so but Arizona will soon have to be a team that is closer to the middle in terms of actual payroll dollars than the bottom where they currently stand (since they are only paying small amounts to Bolland and Hossa despite the high cap hits).
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.