CowboyinAmerica 2,711 Posted March 11, 2014 Share Posted March 11, 2014 Cap Control With Zach Warren For 3 seasons, financial analyst Zach Warren of Ernst & Young has been the man behind the mask, handling full salary cap handling duties for the VHL. Entering Season 37, he has decided to look at some of the cap situations of VHL teams a little bit more closely, revealing some of the inside scoop he sees from the teams’ current situations. Most teams (except for Toronto) are under the cap for Season 37. But what about Season 38, 39, or even further into the future? Warren has decided to point out a team from each conference that can fit into three distinct categories: Sitting Pretty (with cap space to grow moving forward), Surprisingly Solid (should not have any major issues moving forward), and Warning Signs (may have some issues in the future). Last week, we examined the North American Conference. This time, we focus our attention on Europe, where Davos is now ruling the roost. But will it continue that way into the future? Perhaps the cap can decide… Sitting Pretty: Cologne Express What if I said — and trust me, this is an outlandish concept in VHL circles — you didn’t have to completely bottom out in order to retool and go for a championship? While inaugural general manager Joey Kendrick may not have had the success he was looking for when he signed on as top dog, his ultimate Cologne legacy may in fact be leaving the pieces for new GM Alexander Schneider to be able to build a dynasty. With two first round selections this year, which turned out to be Blaine Olynick and Lars Strummer, and four first round selections next year, Cologne is set for the future. However, they also still have a present, with two years of Kameron Taylor and Malcom Spud, three years of Evgeni Chekhov (until Olynick is ready), and four years of David Collier. And the best part? Because Edwin Encarnacion is the only player to move from a rookie to a veteran contract for Cologne over the next two seasons, they are not likely to see a cap crunch with the current roster. So let’s move two seasons into the future, to S39. Taylor and Spud are gone. Chekhov is likely shipped off. Collier is depreciating. Is Cologne done for? Of course not! Olynick and Strummer will be in their third season, all S38 draft picks will be in their second season, and Schneider’s recreated player (which, remember, does not have to be a goalie with Olynick) will be in the pipeline. Cologne will not feel the sting of cap trouble until S41, the fourth season for all of those draft picks. That’s a great place to be. Surprisingly Solid: HC Davos Dynamo Already at the top of the European Conference, some VHL watchers may be expecting Davos to see a slight decline in future seasons as cap hits catch up to them. However, especially in the wake of Odin Tordahl’s departure to New York, GM Victor Alfredsson may not need to make many tough cap-related decisions after all. Next season, the Dynamo currently have $9,000,000 on the books, and, most importantly, many of next year’s contracts such as Matt Bentley and Lennox Moher include expected raises from rookie contracts to veteran contracts. The contracts on the books for the Dynamo will not need to be increased much past current levels to catch up to TPE minimums. That means, especially with Sergei Brovalenko’s recent retirement, the Dynamo will potentially have the money to re-sign once-again-active Jarkko Olsen or potentially add another piece. Past next season, the Dynamo won’t have any more players moving from rookie to veteran contracts — every player that could be on the squad other than Azmet Ali is S35 or older. In addition, Lebedev will have his $3.25 million come off the books, and Landry, Olsen and Zamora will all be creeping towards veteran contracts. The Dynamo won’t have much room to improve the roster in coming seasons, but they won’t lose many players either. Warning Signs: Riga Reign When exactly is the Reign’s expected championship run set to occur? Season 38? It better be, because once their rash of S36 draft picks start to hit prime contracts, the team’s cap situation could quickly start to turn ugly. Riga’s problem is one similar to Seattle’s and is a problem that any team would love to have: The team’s players are simply producing TPE at a too high rate to be sustainable. At this rate, Riga could very well see multiple players on $3,750,000 or higher minimum contracts by Season 39: Blade, McQueen, both Gows, and Szatkowski Jr. Add to those expected high prime contracts some high rookie deals with Fjorsstrom and KJA, and general manager Mike Szatkowski may be making some tough cap decisions quicker than he originally expected in this rebuild. In the past, Riga’s strategy for getting under the cap was simply to trade the goaltender. However, with a player from Szatkowski’s agent himself playing goalie, pulling a Sterling Labatte will not be an option for the team this time. So, with a potential cap crunch in S39 or maybe S40, who’s the player who gets the axe? Mikey Blade is the newcomer, but he also would hit veteran contract status before any other player. Brennan McQueen is likely to have the highest cap hit, but then again, high cap hit means stars. Mike may need to trade current pieces for younger (or older) stars in order to keep his run sustainable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin Victor 10,550 Posted March 11, 2014 Admin Share Posted March 11, 2014 Fuck yeah! Indeed, Boom leaving and Brovy retiring one season early are two things I would not have wanted before S36 at all but they're actually blessings in disguise. This is definitely Davos' last season of 6 forwards and 4 defencemen too, sadly, since I believe there's great strength in a 'full' roster. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Molholt 2,183 Posted March 12, 2014 Share Posted March 12, 2014 The foresight to trade for an inactive who would come back. What a brilliant GM in Davos. Victor 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 12, 2014 Share Posted March 12, 2014 Yeah Alexander Scheider will be successful, I can vouch for that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Svoboda_3 Posted March 12, 2014 Share Posted March 12, 2014 Content: 3/3 921 words. Ask and I shall receive, although I'm sure you were already planning on doing the European Conference. I loved this part 2 as much as part 1.Grammar: 2/2 Nothing really too serious. general manager = General Manager (capitalizing positions of power) Gows = Gow's contracts some = contracts, some who's = whose Appearance: 1/1 Good enough.Overall: 6/6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JardyB10 4,834 Posted March 13, 2014 Share Posted March 13, 2014 general manager = General Manager (capitalizing positions of power) Gows = Gow's contracts some = contracts, some who's = whose I don't mean to sound like a dink, but I don't believe any of these are actually errors, haha. Not that it matters. Now excuse me while I return to my hole. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kesler 1,514 Posted March 16, 2014 Share Posted March 16, 2014 Claimed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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