{"id":1147325,"date":"2020-08-10T14:27:31","date_gmt":"2020-08-10T19:27:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/?p=1147325"},"modified":"2020-08-11T22:01:12","modified_gmt":"2020-08-12T03:01:12","slug":"cap-space-can-the-senators-use-it-to-improve-their-draft-position","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesportsdaily.com\/news\/cap-space-can-the-senators-use-it-to-improve-their-draft-position\/","title":{"rendered":"Cap Space: Can the Senators Use it to Improve their Draft Position?"},"content":{"rendered":"
After the first phase of the NHL\u2019s Draft Lottery, the Ottawa Senators and the rest of the league had to wait until the conclusion of the NHL\u2019s \u2018Play-in\u2019 round to fully realize which teams would participate in phase two of the Draft Lottery.<\/p>\n
This is how the order stood after the first draft lottery was held:<\/p>\n
For the Senators\u2019 interest, the only matter that concerned them was the placement of the New York Islanders\u2019 first round selection that they acquired in the Jean-Gabriel Pageau trade.<\/p>\n
As much as I was hoping for the chaos theory that would have seen the Florida Panthers knock off the Islanders thereby allowing them to win phase two of the NHL\u2019s Draft Lottery — securing Ottawa the Islanders\u2019 2021 selection when there is a reasonable chance that the Islanders could bomb — this scenario will sadly no longer play out.<\/p>\n
In advancing past the Panthers, the Islanders\u2019 2020 first round pick now is expected to range in the 19th<\/sup> to 21st<\/sup> overall span provided, of course, that the Islanders don\u2019t advance deeper into the postseason.<\/p>\n Thanks to the chaos created by a four-month layoff and using short five-game series to determine which teams could move on and qualify for the postseason, an influx of teams with some really good building blocks could be on the verge of adding Alexis Lafreniere to their core.<\/p>\n It is easy to resent the fact that the Islanders\u2019 selection was not lower or that a really good team on the cusp of better things may be on the verge of adding a young and cost-controlled first overall selection who will step into their lineup next season.<\/p>\n At the same time however, given the calibre of some of the teams that lost in the play-in round, maybe this creates a bit of an opportunity for the Ottawa Senators.<\/p>\n In one of my more recent articles<\/a>, I discussed the abundance of cap space that the Senators have and the likelihood that the organization will creatively leverage that to advance the team\u2019s long-term interests.<\/p>\n Well, now that the Islanders\u2019 pick is slated to fall in the latter half of the first round, I can\u2019t help but wonder if the Senators may be able to use their cap space as a mechanism to help move that Isles pick up without having to use any of their stockpiled draft pick and prospect capital.<\/p>\n What the Senators and Pierre Dorion have to do is look at the teams that will slot ahead of their third first-round selection and determine whether there are any fits. Is there a team in that play-in loser category that would be willing to trade down in the first round if it meant they could dump bad money to the Senators?<\/p>\n Here is a reverse-ranking of the play-in round losers based on their points percentage who each have a 12.5 percent chance of landing Lafreniere tonight. Beside the points percentage column, I have include each team\u2019s projected cap hit for the 2020-21 season via CapFriendly.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n Rk<\/b><\/p>\n<\/td>\n Team<\/b><\/p>\n<\/td>\n Pts %<\/b><\/p>\n<\/td>\n Proj. Cap Hit<\/b><\/p>\n<\/td>\n Roster Size<\/b><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n 1<\/p>\n<\/td>\n Minnesota<\/p>\n<\/td>\n .558<\/p>\n<\/td>\n $65.3<\/p>\n<\/td>\n 17<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n 2<\/p>\n<\/td>\n Winnipeg<\/p>\n<\/td>\n .563<\/p>\n<\/td>\n $65.9<\/p>\n<\/td>\n 13<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n 3<\/p>\n<\/td>\n New York Rangers<\/p>\n<\/td>\n .564<\/p>\n<\/td>\n $68.0<\/p>\n<\/td>\n 16<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n 4<\/p>\n<\/td>\n Nashville<\/p>\n<\/td>\n .565<\/p>\n<\/td>\n $72.2<\/p>\n<\/td>\n 17<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n 5<\/p>\n<\/td>\n Florida<\/p>\n<\/td>\n .565<\/p>\n<\/td>\n $60.5<\/p>\n<\/td>\n 13<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n 6<\/p>\n<\/td>\n Toronto<\/p>\n<\/td>\n .579<\/p>\n<\/td>\n $76.9<\/p>\n<\/td>\n 17<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n 7<\/p>\n<\/td>\n Edmonton<\/p>\n<\/td>\n .585<\/p>\n<\/td>\n $71.4<\/p>\n<\/td>\n 17<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n 8<\/p>\n<\/td>\n Pittsburgh<\/p>\n<\/td>\n .623<\/p>\n<\/td>\n $68.3<\/p>\n<\/td>\n 15<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n Minnesota<\/b><\/p>\n The Wild are in one of those weird franchise development curves where they have some decent pieces, but not enough elite talent to push them over the top. They also have some bad long-term money tied up to players in their mid-30\u2019s like Zach Parise, Mats Zuccarello and Ryan Suter. There would possibly be room to make a deal here if any of those aforementioned players had less term on their deals, but each of the three are signed through the 2023-24 season.<\/p>\n Looking at the rest of the roster and the Wild\u2019s cap situation and I just don\u2019t think there\u2019s much of a match, especially since if the Wild don\u2019t win the lottery, they\u2019ll be guaranteed the ninth overall selection.<\/p>\n Winnipeg<\/b><\/p>\n The Jets are an interesting mix in the sense that their forward core is relatively young and a few of their older veterans like Mathieu Perreault and Blake Wheeler are still efficient players.<\/p>\n With almost $66 million already counted against the cap however and only 13 skaters pencilled in on the roster, the Jets have a lot of work to do to bolster their blue line and shore up their forward depth.<\/p>\n Unfortunately, the Jets simply do not have a ton of bad money tied up in redundant players right now and like the Wild, if they don\u2019t win tonight\u2019s lottery, they will possess a top-10 pick.<\/p>\n New York <\/b><\/p>\n After having three top-10 selections in the past three years, the New York Rangers have supplemented their roster with some mid-20\u2019s talent through trade (Mika Zibanejad, Jacob Trouba, Anthony Deangelo) and free agency (Artemi Panarin).<\/p>\n It remains to be seen how patient the Rangers will be with their approach, but this is a roster that they hope will make waves over the next few years, maybe even as early as next season. Knowing that, it is possible that the Rangers could aggressively look to dump the one-year and $5.7 million owed to Marc Staal or reinvest the cap space (one year, $8.5 million) dedicated to the last year of Henrik Lundqvist\u2019s deal.<\/p>\n Both players are protected by no-movement clauses, however and given their cap situation, it\u2019s easy to envision the organization just letting these players ride out the last years of their respective deals in New York. The only way the Rangers could think about moving either of these deals is if the organization intends to be aggressive in unrestricted free agency.<\/p>\n Nashville<\/b><\/p>\n The Senators and Predators rather infamously got together to make a trade, allowing the Senators to move up their first-round pick in 2008.<\/p>\n On the advice of their Swedish scout, Anders Forsberg, the Senators dealt the 18th<\/sup> overall selection and a third-round pick in 2009 to the Predators so they could selection the diminutively statured Erik Karlsson with the 15th<\/sup> overall pick.<\/p>\n Are the Senators and Predators a match 11 years later?<\/p>\n I doubt it.<\/p>\n The Predators have the bulk of their core locked in for the foreseeable future and although there is bad money invested in a number of good but not great forwards who are entering their 30\u2019s, it makes no sense for the Senators to reunite with Kyle Turris or Matt Duchene considering the term left on their deals.<\/p>\n Florida<\/b><\/p>\n With Dale Tallon and the Panthers finally going their separate ways, it looks like the organization will be looking to inexpensively retool this group.<\/p>\n Reports indicate that the Panthers are looking to cut salary next season and with Evgeni Dadonov and Mike Hoffman both eligible for unrestricted free agency, neither is expected back next season.<\/p>\n\n\n
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