The NHL’s New Class Of Cap Orphans

October 2nd, 2010 by Scott Weldon Leave a reply »
There is a brand new sub-species of NHL players. These are the ones who have been bought out, released or hidden by their NHL teams because the team in question no longer feels the player is worth their cost to the organization.

Usually, as a result of a General Manager's fear or folly, a player has been signed for too much, too long or both. A team that does that more than once or twice is likely to end up in cap trouble. The scramble to get under the cap results in more and more bizarre NHL personnel moves. Perfectly good hockey players are left begging for work because their cap hit exceeds their value. NHL teams convince some players to accept the league-minimum salary.  

Alexei Yashin was one of the original poster boys for players paid too much for too long. The talented Yashin was traded from Ottawa to New York for Zdeno Chara, Bill Muckalt and a first round pick who turned out to be Jason Spezza. The Islander GM at the time, Mike Milbury, immediately signed Yashin to a ten year 87.5 million dollar contract. By 2007 though, the Islanders had had enough with Yashin's diminishing offensive production and bought him out. They still owe him 4.755 mil ...

Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - NHL
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