Salary Cap Struggles Continue: Devils to Start Year With 20-Man Roster

levinaklOct 5, 2010

It's certainly been quite a ride to this point...... and it isn't quite done yet. So, it had been the general thoughts of most people that the Devils would need to shed two large (over $2.5 million) salaries in order to get under the salary cap of $59.4 million. Well, the deadline to be under the cap is 3 p.m. Wednesday, and it seems the blueprint to initially be cap compliant is clear.

Whether its luck, brilliance, and/or stubbornness or some combination of all of them I am not sure, and it remains to be seen still, but thanks to a timely concussion to D Bryce Salvador, GM Lou Lamoriello has gone against the grain one more time and will have no players in reserve on the active roster to begin the season. By placing both Salvador ($2.9 million cap hit) and fellow defenseman Anssi Salmela ($612,500) on the long term injured list, it will make the Devils officially cap compliant with just over $84,000 left in cap space, only because a team is allowed to exceed the $59.4 million salary cap by the salaries of players on long-term injured reserve (LTIR). Keep in mind, the Devils will have no margin for error on their roster, meaning if a player has to miss a game for any reason that would not warrant a spot on LTIR (10 games or 24 days), the Devils will not be able to get a replacement added to their roster, meaning they would have to play with less than the normal 20 players.

Moving the last two players to LTIR, would currently leave the 20-man roster as follows:

Forwards (11)
Ilya Kovalchuk ($6,666,667)
Patrik Elias ($6,000,000)
Brian Rolston ($5,062,500)
Jason Arnott ($4,500,000)
Travis Zajac ($3,887,500)
Dainius Zubrus ($3,400,000)
Zach Parise ($3,125,000)
Jamie Langenbrunner ($2,800,000)
David Clarkson ($2,666,667)
Rod Pelley ($550,000)
Pierre-Luc Leblond ($525,000)

Defensemen (7)
Anton Volchenkov ($4,250,000)
Henrik Tallinder ($3,375,000)
Colin White ($3,000,000)
Alexander Urbom ($870,000)
Andy Greene ($737,500)
Matt Taormina ($510,000)
Mark Fraser ($500,000)

Goaltenders (2)
Martin Brodeur ($5,200,000)
Johan Hedberg ($1,500,000)

Keep in mind that $310,000 of Urbom's salary and $500,000 of Hedberg's salaries are only earned if they earn these bonus amounts. If the bonuses are earned/achieved, and there is not sufficient cap space (which there currently is not), these bonuses can be deferred into next year and applied towards next year's salary cap. Thus, in more ways than one (LTIR & bonuses), the Devils are "legally" over the salary cap.

Along with the 20 men listed above, Adam Mair remains with the team on a tryout basis and with no signed NHL contract. Assuming the Devils make no roster moves between now and Friday, the Devils would be unable to add Mair (or any player for that matter) to the roster. Expect the Devils to possibly demote Alexander Urbom and sign Mair to a contract near or at the minimum of $500,000.

In what has become a game of chicken, Lamoriello is trying to put off his salary cap saving move by wasting as much time as he can. Maybe he will get "lucky" again and have a high salaried player get injured, or a rival GM will come with a good offer for one of his players. If Lamoriello allows his team to only have 20 players on its roster for the first six games in nine days, he is definitely putting his team at risk, so I would think he is smart enough to realize this, and will make a move before Friday's game. Whether it's the obvious candidates Colin White, Dainius Zubrus, Jamie Langenbrunner, or Brian Rolston remains to be seen. But, that's part of the fun of what has been the Summer of Kovalchuk (which has extended into the fall as well.