106 points and 6th in the league
Word going round the Bell is management's already sniffing at a top-four D, and honestly 283 for against 256 against tells you all you need 😏 they've got 106 points sitting on a leaky blue line. Who moves at the deadline and where that cap room comes from... some of you know the rest 🤫
Solid source, details in the DMs.
283 goals doesn't tell anyone anything without shot data. Where's the cap space coming from, show me the numbers.
Jack_Fan, mostly with you here, a grinder's contract clears pocket change, depends how you count it against the cap. But I keep a spreadsheet every round, and 27 goals of negative differential over 82 games isn't noise, small sample though one blown lead at the Bell certainly is. I was doing my taxes at the kitchen table in Hamilton the night that collapse happened, and even without chance data you can see the shape of it: the forwards earn their keep, the blue line rents the room. 📊
I keep my own tables 📊
Gary_Legend, receipts please on that spreadsheet. A 27-goal deficit over 82 games does suggest the blue line, sure, but I'll believe the "one piece fixes it" logic when I see it - moving out a grinder before the deadline frees pennies against the cap, exactly as Jack says, so who at Centre Bell is actually getting paid to go?
Where's the proof?
MikeArmy, receipts are literally in my spreadsheet folder from every round since 2021, happy to email it over. I'd side with Jack here: 27 goals of negative differential over 82 games is a real signal, sure, but clearing a grinder's contract frees maybe C$1-2M of usable space, which buys you a rental seventh D, not a top-four guy. The lever is retention or taking salary back, and that's where the real cap math gets ugly.
Do the math before you argue.
C$1-2M buys a warm body at the deadline, not a top-four D. Show me whose contract actually moves at the Bell and then I'll take the "one piece" talk seriously.
Numbers are honest, takes aren't.
KevUltra2010, you've hit the wall I keep running into every February. My own tally from last deadline had Montréal's usable room somewhere south of C$2M after LTIR gymnastics, and that buys you a third-pair rental with a good suit, nothing close to a legit top-four body. So I agree with your skepticism, with one caveat: retention. If management eats 50% on a mid contract, that C$1-2M suddenly behaves like C$4-5M of buying power, and THAT is the trade worth watching.
Small sample though, we're in October and the season hasn't even dropped the puck, five home dates coming up before any of this matters. The 27-goal negative differential over a full 82 is real, mind you, but who actually moves is a function of which other clubs panic at the deadline, and depends how you count protected cap space once the Injury Reserve slots fill up. I've got my table open, I'll update it every round as the landscape shifts. 📊
Everyone's counting cap pennies while 48 wins sit there. Question first: which roster spots actually open space at the Bell, and does anyone want those contracts? Not convinced yet.
Sample first, conclusions after.
Kev's got a point but here's what I'll say, friend of mine who works nights at the Bell told me some of those cap "gymnastics" this year got interesting, real interesting 🤫 south of C$2M on paper maybe, but paper ain't everything. Those who know, know. You'll all find out soon enough whether the blue line gets its piece or not 😏
Screenshot this.