DOH 13 and Schneider Schadenfreude
September 17th, 2008, 8:23 am
Lucky 13 here. I want to again thank our regular emailers for providing much needed topics and content for the show, and I renew our call to our readers here and other listeners (you know who you are) to email us, and let us know what you think of the show, or what you want us to talk about.
Ok, enough begging (I refuse to use the term bleg). We touched a little on the rookie camp in this episode, and tried to break down the Mathieu Schneider situation as best we could, and contrasted it a bit with the unfortunate pickle McLaren is in. The season preview continues with the Atlantic division.
Now on to Schneider schadenfreude. First off, I can’t believe no one else has used those two words together yet, because in my mind, it’s like Hall and Oates, Calvin and Hobbes, Kibbles and Bits. Anyway, because I fancy myself a bit of a capologist, here’s my breakdown:
- Schneider was over 35 when he signed his current deal with the Ducks, and thus falls into a special category.
- That category states that if the Ducks waive him, or he retires, even due to injury, his salary still counts against the cap. This isn’t the case for players that signed their deals when they were younger than 35. This also explains why Roenick is on a series of one-year deals.
- Signing a 37 year old guy to a two year deal for almost $12M was, not to put too fine a point on it, stupid. I’ll take bets right now that if Sundin signs a multi-year deal that (equally stupid) team will be in the same jam in a year’s time.
- By waiving him, the Ducks make his contract available to anyone who wants to take it. If someone does claim him, the Ducks are off the hook. To our glee so far, that hasn’t happened. It’s been reported that the Kings, seemingly a likely candidate, will probably not claim him.
- If and when our eerily-white-toothed hero clears waivers, the Ducks could send him to the minors, but that wouldn’t provide any cap relief either.
- One possible play for the Ducks is to bring him back to the team at that point, through a process called “re-entry waivers”, which again makes Schneider available to anyone, but this time, at half the price. The Ducks will be on the hook for the other half, and wouldn’t really solve their cap problem.
- This is where my limited expertise ends. If the Ducks don’t bring him back through re-entry waivers, can other teams sign him, and then he gets paid by both teams? I know some players get paid by two teams because of a buyout, like Darcy Tucker, but this is different. Anyone know?
It’s fun watching Brian Burke squirm. You can almost taste how badly they want to sign Selanne, but they can’t until Schneider is gone, or other cap-clearing moves are made.
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This wasn’t the only mess Burke got himself into a year ago. Signing Bertuzzi to a huge contract was another WTF move that is costing their cap this year. I think this move was even worse than signing Schneider.
Luckily whenever DW risks, he only signs them for one year.
It was a risk, to be sure, but at least the Ducks had the presence of mind to buy him out and limit the damage he could do to their cap situation.
I think this is worse- it shows a lack of planning in signing a player that counts against the cap no matter what, and it shows a lack of foresight this year in realizing they wouldn’t be able to get rid of him.
And this just in- Schneider cleared waivers. I guess he could be claimed on re-entry, but the Ducks will be on the hook for almost $3M this year, which in my mind makes it much worse than the Bert deal.
Its such a strange rule because you would think that if they assigned him to an affiliate in the AHL or even more amusing would be the ECHL that they could hope he says F it and not report enabling him to suspend him with out pay.
Unfortunatly for the ducks (amusing for me) I remeber New Jersey traded us a 1st round pick so we’d take a cap hit for a defencement that we suspended with out pay after the cap since everyone knew he was not going to play hockey again over here the year after the lockout.
I think your going to see someone probably take him on re-entry and or a couple of teams are just going to get ripped off because their backs are too the wall. And unfortunatly our sharks could be one of them.
I’m sure the Ducks could do that. But sending a damn good NHL player to the minors in hopes that this will piss him off is not exactly a good PR strategy. They are going to have enough trouble signing players as it is. I’d say it’s 50/50 that the Ducks will just plain suck in 09-10, because as others have noted, every d-man except Pronger is UFA. Why would you sign any sort of deal there if there’s a distinct possibility that you could get waived even if you play well?
And the reason he didn’t get claimed is because of his huge salary. Should the Sharks decide to waive McLaren, I doubt he would clear. But then again, I can see the GMs banding together to screw DW just like they screwed Burke.
Thank you for the lunchtime chortle. “50/50 that the Ducks will just plain suck in 09-10” is great humor. The core of players that are signed for next year will ensure a contending team.
Where’s the perception coming from that it’s difficult for the Ducks to sign free agents? I don’t think putting Schneider on waivers impacts future player decisions one bit. It’s no different than the situation of someone signing with a team, playing well, and then being traded. It’s all just the reality of the business that is the NHL.
Ok, maybe not 50/50. I guess having the top line signed is good, but that’s really all the Ducks have. Three good, or even great, forwards doesn’t not ensure a contending team in my mind. What if the D is Pronger, O’Donnell, Huskins, Semenov, and 2 minor leaguers?
Actually, the Ducks have only one big club defenseman under contract for 2009-10 at this time in Pronger.
I think if I was a Ducks fan, I would be questioning the brilliance of Burke. He has made a few major errors in the last year with having to buy out Bertuzzi, waive a very good goalie in Breezy and now get nothing for a d-man with 490 career points because he was duped by Scotty N.
I think the future in Anaheim is certainly unknown….especially after Burke bolts at the end of the year.
Are the Sharks in any better situation than the Ducks?
If the Sharks don’t win it this year, does that mean they can’t win it with this set of players? Essentially meaning that the team needs to be totally rebuilt. And if that happens, isn’t it better to not have to deal with trying to trade away most of your assets? Have a small core of players (say 4 forwards, a couple defensemen, and a goalie), and remake the team around them. Minus a defenseman, this is what Anaheim has.
Two other points: if Burke leaves, it gives his successor a chance to craft their own team; and if the CBA gets tweaked (or the players opt out) the team isn’t in a bind.