15 July 2008

Today's the 15th. Will Lehts sign?

So today's the day. Kari has to sign the QO he received prior to June 25th, or he becomes..... an RFA without a contract. Any team can sign him to an offer sheet, but Atlanta has the right to match the offer, or be compensated with draft picks.*

Total Cap Spending
$33.719m



Bonus Cushion
$0.100m



Available Cap Space
$22.981m


Listen, I know we're not all rocket scientists, but we have a looooot of money just sitting there. Don't be cheap. Give Kari an offer he can't refuse. We're all ashamed and embarrassed that no one wants to play for this team, right? Well why doesn't someone start down the path of making this a great franchise, by rewarding the efforts of your franchise goaltender. Just a thought.

Salary cap info from Spector's Hockey.



* Many thanks to the totally amazing Ben of Blueland Blog, who wrote this to me when I emailed him in a mild state of WTF?! Ben also graciously extended me an invitation to meet the new coach on Saturday, but I had to decline, due to not actually living in Atlanta. Anyway, Ben is awesome. Go read Ben if you get the chance.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

It's worth asking: What's the REAL salary cap of the Thrashers? I can't say for certain, but judging by the fact that no one wants to play in Atlanta, I would venture that the city isn't a hotbed for hockey media. Most franchises that aren't hugely profitable have a self-imposed limit, normally only a few million above the salary floor.

Is Atlanta in that boat? That excess of money they have sitting around -- is it actually there, or is that simply a salary cap figure? If it's not there, how much do they REALLY have to offer for their franchise goaltender?

Tiffany said...

Yeah, the actual $ amount available is 22.9m, but that's to the top number of the cap space. I have no idea what they're targeting, but I would imagine somewhere in the middle, so they still have about $12 for the summer I would guess?