For others, the mere mention of his name sends them in to uncontrollable fits of rage.
Here is a little background on the story in case you don't know it. Nylander was signed as an UFA (unrestricted free agent) by the Caps in 2007 for a little less than $20mil for four years. His salary cap hit is $4.875M/year. He has a "no movement" clause in his contract which means that he cannot be waived, sent to a lower league, or traded without his approval.
Nylander was signed to be Ovechkin's center. He's a typical, old school, Swedish centerman; pass first, shoot next, go in the corners never. He likes to play a controlled game on the ice. This doesn't fit into Coach Boudreau's system at all. This resulted in Nylander being put on the shelf for most of last year and all of the current season.
He took a conditioning assignment to Grand Rapids in order to show him off to overseas scouts. Since he hasn't played in the NHL this season, he is allowed to be loaned to a team overseas. The Caps will still be responsible for his contract, although the team he is loaned to can pay some/all of it. The upside for the Capitals is his salary cap hit will come off of the books for the remainder of this season. That will work out somewhere in the $3.5 million range.
In order to be loaned overseas, Nylander had to be put on and clear waivers. He cleared last week. Now they just have to find a team to take him. Dinamo Minsk seemed to be the frontrunner. They waived Josef Boumedienne in order to make room for him. KHL rules only allow five non-Russian players per team. So far, though, there hasn't been any movement.
What does this mean for the Bears? Well, the only reason that Karl Alzner is playing for us this season is because the Capitals couldn't fit his salary under the cap. With Nylander off of the books, Alzner is gone, like right freaking now. They probably won't even let him go home to pack up.
It also gives them the flexibility to keep prospects up without playing them. Personally, I don't think that they would do this. The Caps are very good about making sure that their prospects get playing time in order to develop, but the possibility exists.
The new cap room also raises the chance that the Caps could look to strengthen weaknesses by trading. If this happens, names like Carlson, Neuvirth, Perreault, Holtby, Osala, and Gordon would be the chips on the table.
So far, GM George McPhee has resisted the siren's call of "must win now" and kept his prospects in the pipeline. Alexander Semin and Nicklas Backstrom are going to be RFAs at the end of the season, and keeping them both will be difficult. GMGM may decide that this year is going to be the best shot of winning a cup and raid the cupboard to get that extra piece to push them over the top.
Bottom Line? If/When Nylander leaves the Caps, nothing good will happen for the Bears.
1 comments:
I disagree with the Alzner thing. The Caps already have 8 defensemen so why would they bring up a 9th? Maybe they would send Sloan down but it seems that the reason he was there was because they didn't think he would clear waivers...will he clear now?
I think the more likely players to remain in Washington would be Perreault or Aucoin.
I know Tim Leone thinks Alzner is as good as gone and maybe he is right but I am not sure it makes a ton of sense. Although he would be a top 4 defenseman as soon as he appears in Washington.
It will be interesting ASSUMING Nylander actually leaves. The problem is now that Nylander wants to be able to leave his KHL team IF an NHL offer came in this season and no team is going to accept that. Unfortunately Nylander has a no-move clause and can not be moved, loaned, traded, or anything unless HE agrees to it.
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