In case you haven’t heard yet, Canadiens G Jose Theodore will miss the next 6-8 weeks after suffering a broken heel on Thursday night while walking down the stairs outside his home. It’s just another bad thing to happen to him this season, aside from less than adequate play, and a positive test for a banned substance that has him out of Dick Pound’s good graces. But that’s not what we’ll talk about today, instead, let’s look at something more interesting – the cap implications.
This season, Theodore is making $4.5 M (all figures in USD). On a per-game average, he earns $54,878.05 per game (whether he plays or not.) 6 to 8 weeks from now puts him in a range of missing between 16-25 games. As the CBA states, if Theodore misses at least 10 consecutive games, his salary over that period and any subsequent games from that injury will become exempt from the salary cap. This means that the team will save between $878,048.78 and $1,371,951.22 on the cap, directly subtracted from the $39 M ceiling.
Now, let’s not forget that Yann Danis, who will be recalled after the Olympic break, will now see his salary count against the cap. He, at the NHL level, is making $1.075 M (rookie max for his draft class), which works out to $13,109.76 per game. The range that his salary will count against the cap will be between $209,756.10, and $327,743.90.
The differences:
At 16 games: $668,292.68 (hard cap space)
At 25 games: $1,044,207.32 (hard cap space)
Now, we all know what this means, the Habs now have the financial means to go after another goalie through trade, or let Huet and Danis take the team through the final quarter. Some of the notable impending free agents goalies who could be possible rent-a-players are:
Manny Fernandez (MIN)
Dwayne Roloson (MIN)
Curtis Joseph (PHX)
Vesa Toskala (SJ)
Patrick Lalime (STL)
Ty Conklin (EDM)
There are other goalies, such as Martin Biron or Mika Noronen (BUF), who may not be unrestricted, but available to be had.
One thing is for sure, the trade deadline may very well have become much more interesting for Hab fans. Stay tuned.