OT: Roster Architecture (Go Cheap on Your Bottom 8)

[That Aud Smell]

No idea who this guy is (Jonathan Willis), but this was a very interesting (and fairly quick) read regarding how Florida's gone about putting together the best team in the league.

https://corsiknight.substack.com/p/stop-wasting-money-on-depth-guys

Here's his conclusion:

The upshot of all this discipline is that the Panthers are able to fill the bottom eight slots on their roster for just $7.725 million. With most teams running a 22-man roster these days, that gives the Panthers a total of $87.775 million for their other 14 players, an average of $6.27 million per player.

It’s how Florida affords 11 players making more than $5 million/season, with six of them north of $7 million/season. The Panthers have simply shaved every penny they can at the positions that don’t really move the needle, so that they have dollars to give to the guys who do.

Low taxes and sunshine are great, but every team has to come up with a roster under $95.5 million. It’s a much, much easier task when the general manager is willing to be ruthless with the depth guys.

+++

This leads me infer that maybe all that bargain bin shopping yesterday by the Sabres was an effort to emulate Florida?

 

 

[Drag0nDan]

I mean - they exploited the LTIR loophole last year to get the marchand and jones trades through.  Then activated Tkachuk in the playoffs. 

If they really do enforce a cap-compliant team in the playoffs, i am not sure they could have iced last years championship roster.  

[inkman]

26 minutes ago, That Aud Smell said:

No idea who this guy is (Jonathan Willis), but this was a very interesting (and fairly quick) read regarding how Florida's gone about putting together the best team in the league.

https://corsiknight.substack.com/p/stop-wasting-money-on-depth-guys

Here's his conclusion:

The upshot of all this discipline is that the Panthers are able to fill the bottom eight slots on their roster for just $7.725 million. With most teams running a 22-man roster these days, that gives the Panthers a total of $87.775 million for their other 14 players, an average of $6.27 million per player.

It’s how Florida affords 11 players making more than $5 million/season, with six of them north of $7 million/season. The Panthers have simply shaved every penny they can at the positions that don’t really move the needle, so that they have dollars to give to the guys who do.

Low taxes and sunshine are great, but every team has to come up with a roster under $95.5 million. It’s a much, much easier task when the general manager is willing to be ruthless with the depth guys.

+++

This leads me infer that maybe all that bargain bin shopping yesterday by the Sabres was an effort to emulate Florida?

 

 

I’m more inclined to believe they are trimming the budget per Terry’s direction.  

[Drag0nDan]

Just now, inkman said:

I’m more inclined to believe they are trimming the budget per Terry’s direction.  

Everyone signs cheap AHL players.  It's just... most teams have other news so it isn't the only thing coming out.  

[inkman]

14 minutes ago, Drag0nDan said:

Everyone signs cheap AHL players.  It's just... most teams have other news so it isn't the only thing coming out.  

Yeah I’m aware.  I still think they aren’t adding payroll intentionally. 

[Eleven]

NHL radio guys were theorizing the opposite yesterday--Toronto and Edmonton couldn't compete against Florida because Florida had better third and fourth lines and third pairing.

[steveoath]

According to baker Fairburn podcast sabres currently have one of the highest counts of $4M+ salaries in the nhl. 

[That Aud Smell]

6 minutes ago, Eleven said:

NHL radio guys were theorizing the opposite yesterday--Toronto and Edmonton couldn't compete against Florida because Florida had better third and fourth lines and third pairing.

A fair conversation to have. Yet those payroll #s make clear that Florida makes do with league-minimum (or close to league-minimum) guys for the bottom 8 slots on their roster (~4-5 forwards, ~2-3 D, 1 Goalie).

1 minute ago, steveoath said:

According to baker Fairburn podcast sabres currently have one of the highest counts of $4M+ salaries in the nhl. 

So they ARE emulating Florida!

1 hour ago, That Aud Smell said:

This leads me infer that maybe all that bargain bin shopping yesterday by the Sabres was an effort to emulate Florida?

This got a couple of LOL reactions.

I'm not sure I was kidding? 

Maybe I was - but didn't realize it.

[Taro T]

3 minutes ago, Eleven said:

NHL radio guys were theorizing the opposite yesterday--Toronto and Edmonton couldn't compete against Florida because Florida had better third and fourth lines and third pairing.

Well, yes, they did.  They also had guys like Rodrigues playing in the top 6 because they were defensively responsible playing with guys that could carry the offense even with a bottom 6 guy on their line.

They also, by the time the playoffs rolled around had a team payroll that was way over the cap.

Both of those tended to make that 3rd line REALLY hard to play against.  The Conn Smythe winner and one of the runner's up was playing on that 3rd line.  And both are going to be paid this coming year.

Cracks me up when people try to boil the winning formula down to 1 thing.

[Eleven]

42 minutes ago, Taro T said:

1 thing.

It's two things.  Palm trees AND taxes.  That's why Dobson signed in Montreal.

[DarthEbriate]

You can emulate Florida when you don't trade your stud #2 overalls for futures and they're able to carry the load, and sometimes on very nice contracts based on when they signed.

Once you lose those studs (Eichel/Barkov; Reinhart/Reinhart), you can spread the money, but you don't have the elite players to build around.

Plus, Florida's internal cap is rebuffed by Zito and LTIR. The Sabres internal cap seems to always be about $8M or more.