SalarySwishSalarySwish

Isles Cap Shenanigans

Created by: jMoneyBrah
Team: 2024-25 San Jose Sharks
Initial Creation Date: Jun. 8, 2024
Published: Jun. 8, 2024
Salary Cap Mode: Basic
Legend
Left Handed
Original Team
Waivers Exempt
Right Handed
Position
Trade Clause
Max Perf. Bonus
Expiry Status
Term Remaining
Logo of the Edmonton Oilers
Waivers ExemptMcDavid, Connor
$12,500,000 (Performance Bonus$250,000)
C
NMC
UFA - 5
Description
TLDR; Sharks trade for Lee and Pageau, buy them out, Islanders resign both for two years at the value of the unpaid portion of their buyouts. Islanders get $9M in additional cap space, and Lee + Pageau for a combined cap hit of $3M for two years.



The idea here is for the Sharks to leverage their ample cap space and buyout slots to effectively restructure some contracts for the Isles, reducing cap hits for two players, while ensuring they get full value for their contracts; and earn some draft assets for the trouble.

The targeted players for this, Lee and Pageau, are both due less salary than their respective cap hits for the remaining two years on their contracts. This means that the Islanders would be able to re-sign both players for less than a third of their current cap hits while still making their contract whole (granted one third of their remaining contracts would be paid over two additional years by the Sharks)


LEE
Current Cap Hit: $7M x 2
Salary Remaining: $10.35M
Sharks Buyout Salary Paid: $6.9M / 4 years
New Contract with Islanders: $1.75M x 2


PAGEAU
Current Cap Hit: $5M x 2
Salary Remaining: $7.5M
Sharks Buyout Salary Paid: $5M / 4 years
New Contract with Islanders: $1.25M x 2
Trades
SJS
  1. Lee, Anders
  2. Pageau, Jean-Gabriel
  3. 2024 1st round pick (TBL)
  4. 2024 2nd round pick (LAK)
Additional Details:
Sharks buyout both players.
NYI
  1. 2024 7th round pick (SJS)
Additional Details:
Islanders re-sign both players at the rate of the unpaid portion of their contracts due to the buyouts:

Lee: $1.75M x 2
Pageau: $1.25m x 2
Buyouts
Retained Salary Transactions
Buried
DraftRound 1Round 2Round 3Round 4Round 5Round 6Round 7
2024
Logo of the SJS
Logo of the PIT
Logo of the TBL
Logo of the SJS
Logo of the NJD
Logo of the LAK
Logo of the TBL
Logo of the VGK
Logo of the CHI
Logo of the PIT
2025
Logo of the SJS
Logo of the VGK
Logo of the SJS
Logo of the SJS
Logo of the WPG
Logo of the SJS
Logo of the NJD
2026
Logo of the SJS
Logo of the SJS
Logo of the SJS
Logo of the SJS
Logo of the SJS
ROSTER SIZESALARY CAPCAP HITOVERAGES TooltipBONUSESCAP SPACE
13$87,700,000$55,604,167$0$4,550,000$32,095,833
Left WingCentreRight Wing
Logo of the San Jose Sharks
$2,000,000$2,000,000
LW, RW
RFA - 1
Logo of the San Jose Sharks
$5,000,000$5,000,000
C, RW
UFA - 1
Logo of the San Jose Sharks
$1,450,000$1,450,000
RW
RFA - 1
Logo of the San Jose Sharks
$863,333$863,333 (Performance Bonus$850,000$850K)
LW
RFA - 2
Logo of the San Jose Sharks
$2,000,000$2,000,000
C
UFA - 1
Logo of the San Jose Sharks
$941,667$941,667 (Performance Bonus$500,000$500K)
RW, C
RFA - 2
Logo of the San Jose Sharks
$800,000$800,000
LW, RW
UFA - 1
Logo of the San Jose Sharks
$950,000$950,000 (Performance Bonus$3,200,000$3M)
C
RFA - 3
Left DefenseRight DefenseGoaltender
Logo of the San Jose Sharks
$7,000,000$7,000,000
LD/RD
M-NTC
UFA - 2
Logo of the San Jose Sharks
$2,350,000$2,350,000
G
UFA - 1
Logo of the San Jose Sharks
$3,250,000$3,250,000
LD
UFA - 2
Logo of the San Jose Sharks
$2,750,000$2,750,000
LD/RD
UFA - 1
Logo of the San Jose Sharks
$1,100,000$1,100,000
LD/RD
UFA - 2
ScratchesInjured Reserve (IR)Long Term IR (LTIR)
Logo of the San Jose Sharks
$8,000,000$8,000,000
C
M-NTC
UFA - 3
Logo of the San Jose Sharks
$3,400,000$3,400,000
G
UFA - 1
Logo of the San Jose Sharks
$1,250,000$1,250,000
RD
UFA - 2

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Top Comments

Jun. 8 at 3:54 a.m.
#1
RecycleShark
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Joined: Jul. 2023
Posts: 1,607
Likes: 470
Why buy out Lee and Pageau? Just keep them. I think they could both be good fits for the Sharks, especially Lee. Lee and Celebrini could be like Foligno and Bedard. Lee could be a great mentor and protector for young Sharks. We coukd use a power forward. Pageau could be 3C if Couture can't come back and Bords and Smith aren't ready. If you buy them out, you just spread their cap hits over more years. If you keep them their cap hits go away before our young stars ELC's expire and we need the cap space.
Jun. 8 at 4:31 a.m.
#2
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Joined: Jul. 2015
Posts: 30
Likes: 9
Edited Jun. 8 at 4:39 a.m.
Quoting: RecycleShark
Why buy out Lee and Pageau? Just keep them. I think they could both be good fits for the Sharks, especially Lee. Lee and Celebrini could be like Foligno and Bedard. Lee could be a great mentor and protector for young Sharks. We coukd use a power forward. Pageau could be 3C if Couture can't come back and Bords and Smith aren't ready. If you buy them out, you just spread their cap hits over more years. If you keep them their cap hits go away before our young stars ELC's expire and we need the cap space.


I don’t disagree. This scenario is more around if the Isles actually wanted to retain both players but also free up cap space. It’s kinda a fantasy land hypothetical, as I couldn’t see both players waiving to go to San Jose then waivers where they could be picked up, hypothetically, by any team. However, if they did make it through waivers they could sign new contracts with the Islanders at a greatly reduced cap hit. On the other hand, I think it could work because the buyout period is before the draft and free agency and both contracts aren’t particularly good value cap-wise, and teams are likely making plans to sign their own players and free agents and don’t have $5-7M laying around to add Lee or Pageau from the waiver wire.

Islanders get $9M in cap space, keep Lee and Pageau at a combined $3M cap hit, and both players don’t have to move their life and get all the money from their current contracts.

From the Sharks perspective they get the 1st and an additional 2nd. The 3rd/4th year cap hits of the buyouts are $3M each year combined for both players; so not terribly constraining.
Jun. 8 at 5:57 a.m.
#3
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Joined: Jan. 2017
Posts: 593
Likes: 308
The league blocks this. While I don't believe it's explicitly stated in the CBA, they have the catch-all "anything we deem circumvention" rule. I'm drawing a blank on it now, but after the lockout in 2012 there were a few stories about a team looking into doing this with their compliance buyout (no cap penalty) and having it blocked by the league.

From the wikipedia article on compliance buyouts:
Quote:
After using a compliance buyout on a player, that player is prohibited from rejoining the team that bought him out for one year; the NHL deemed that the re-signing of a player following a trade and a subsequent compliance buyout would be ruled as cap circumvention


I get that this is slightly different since at least some team has cap penalties for the player but I can't see it being permitted here either because the purpose is clearly the same.
jMoneyBrah liked this.
Jun. 8 at 7:16 a.m.
#4
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Joined: Jul. 2015
Posts: 30
Likes: 9
Edited Jun. 8 at 7:27 a.m.
Quoting: jamnjon
The league blocks this. While I don't believe it's explicitly stated in the CBA, they have the catch-all "anything we deem circumvention" rule. I'm drawing a blank on it now, but after the lockout in 2012 there were a few stories about a team looking into doing this with their compliance buyout (no cap penalty) and having it blocked by the league.

From the wikipedia article on compliance buyouts:


I get that this is slightly different since at least some team has cap penalties for the player but I can't see it being permitted here either because the purpose is clearly the same.


Not that ima sit here and say anyone is wrong to doubt this is possible. It is, indeed, a shenanigan. That being said, if a pair of GMs had the brass ones to try this I think it’s gotta stand, as:

A) As you said, and as far as I can tell, there is no rule that prevents this from happening.

B) There’s no free lunch, one team is absorbing the entire brunt of the buyout, and the original team still needs to sign the players back. IMO this is materially different from the compliance buyouts as there is cap penalties being applied within the system.

C) All other teams would have the opportunity block this from happening by claiming either player as they must go through waivers prior to the buyout being enacted. Similarly as the players would be part of the UFA pool they could be signed by any team. In short all teams have the ability to either forcefully stop this by claiming the contract on waivers; or outbid the players original team in the UFA market.

Mostly, I think this doesn’t happen because what player holding an NTC would willingly waive it on the odd chance they get claimed by their least favored destination.
Jun. 8 at 9:20 a.m.
#5
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Joined: Feb. 2021
Posts: 1,807
Likes: 1,025
I do this trade all day and just keep them
FunMustBeAlways and jMoneyBrah liked this.
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