2019-2020 NHL Thread
- Thread starter CarltonTheBear
- Start date
herman
Well-known member
San Jose has had a horrific Eastern road trip. It took Aaron Dell standing on his head against Montreal to gain one win for 3 pts in 5 games through the Atlantic 'gauntlet' on a really tough travel schedule, culminating in a matchup with the hottest team in the league.
https://twitter.com/PeteBlackburn/status/1189351001884712961
https://twitter.com/PeteBlackburn/status/1189351001884712961
herman said:
I know that's Marchand and all so like who cares... but imagine if that connected?
Guilt Trip
Active member
It's a weird scenario. He could have reported, failed the physical, gone on LTIR and got paid. There's more to this story. Maybe a little Lindros/Flyers medical staff action going on here?herman said:
I imagine the only reason Buff had the surgery with an "independent surgeon" was because he wanted to do it in Minnesota, where he's presumably living right now, instead of flying to Winnipeg. That seems like a non-issue to me as far as the Jets would be concerned.
herman said:
I think the simplest answer is that busted ankle or not he genuinely wasn't sure if he wanted to keep playing hockey. And there probably wouldn't have been a point to having surgery if he wasn't going to keep playing hockey professionally. Like McKenzie said, electing to have the surgery probably means Byfuglien is closer to wanting to play than he was a month ago, but it still isn't a confirmation.
Some people are asking why didn't the Jets talk him into allowing them to place him on LTIR. I've been thinking about that. Is that actually more beneficial to them? IIRC once Winnipeg got everyone signed they had just enough cap space to fit Buff under the ceiling. So say they placed him on LTIR: they would be allowed to exceed the salary cap by $7.6mil while he's on it. But if they were hoping he'd return at some point that doesn't really benefit them in any way because if they acquired any significant salary then they would have had to immediately shed it once Buff returned.
By suspending him instead the Jets have completely cleared that $7.6mil cap hit from their books while he's out. This means that over the course of the season they're going to be accumulating a decent amount of cap space. If they know now that he's not going to be returning until say March, they can do the math and find out that maybe they can acquire a $2-4mil defenceman right now and by March they'll know that they'll still have enough cap space banked to reinstate Buff without needing to shed salary to fit him in.