Skip to main content

Squeeze that cap!

The furious competition of June's Stanley Cup Finals has given way to an equally heated contest between general managers this July. Free agent signings, trades, draft picks, etc. all serve to set the stage for the on-ice drama to follow. I'm somewhat surprised that we haven't seen a particular weapon brought out in that battle yet, however.

Back in the early days of the NBA's salary cap, Detroit Pistons GM Jack McCloskey made a hefty offer to Jon Koncak of the Atlanta Hawks. The offer was a shrewd move, as Atlanta was forced (due to lack of other options) to match the deal and retain Koncak at a painfully high salary, constraining their options under the salary cap for years. Detroit went on to win back-to-back championships shortly thereafter and hamstrung a division rival along the way.

So why haven't we seen similar moves this offseason? In the past, NHL teams have made hefty offers to restricted free agents that usually ended up being matched by the original team (remember Carolina offering, and Detroit matching, a $28 million deal for Sergei Fedorov?). Back then, the Wings just had to deal with the financial implications of matching that offer, but in today's world, the cap hangs over those decisions like a thundercloud ready to cut loose on an unwary GM.

So pour over that list of Restricted Free Agents, and try to pick out who will be the next Jon Koncak, and who will be the next Jack McCloskey...  

Popular posts from this blog

Cheer up, it's the holidays...

Why is it that various media outlets continue trying to put their own spin on the "what's wrong with the NHL" story? Our latest example comes from The Hockey News , in a piece by Jay Greenburg entitled, "Excitement Level On The Decline." Take the opening sentence: Attendance is down and yet still up from before the lockout, leaving it arguable whether buildings in New Jersey and Florida are half-full or half empty. It's no surprise that attendance is down from last season, particularly if you compare the first half of 2005-06 to the first half of this year. Coming out of the lockout, there were legions of fans starved to see the on-ice product, particularly in light of the massive rule changes. This year is more indicative of business as usual, so the fact that the league is above pre-lockout levels is a positive. Toss in the projection that overall revenues are increasing despite a 1% decrease in attendance, and I'd say that paying fans have come back
Read more

How I'm Trying To Make Money Sports Blogging

To kick off this series of articles general sports-blogging articles here at OTF Classic, I think it's best to start with a comment that Brad left here last week, after I shared my goals for 2012 , which include specific revenue targets: I considered diving into the world of internet marketing myself, but I felt that my friends would hate me for bugging them about stuff. I mean, it's pretty low-risk high-reward, so it's tempting. I wouldn't mind reading about tips on how to maximize impact of blogging in general to make it a legitimate income source. Trying to make money at sports blogging can be a very touchy subject - for the vast majority of us, this is an activity we pursue to both exercise our creativity and share our love of the game, whether it's hockey, football, badminton, whatever, with fellow fans. Mixing that personal conversation with a commercial message can turn people off, especially if it becomes too intrusive for the reader. It's not unrea
Read more

Celebrating a milestone month

I've been remiss in providing regular updates on my quest to turn this whole sports-blogging hobby into at least something of a significant side income, if not a career, but good news has a way of prompting action. That, and I've been heads-down busy working on a few different fronts to push things forward...
Read more