Welcome back my Cap-Friendlies! Right now, we're sort of in that dead period of the season where there's not too much going on in way of salary movement but fear not, the trade deadline and implications to go along with it will be here before we know it. For now, we have a signing or two to talk about this week and to go along with that we should give a cap check-in on a couple situations around the league. (Data from CapFriendly.)

Patrick Kane – RW – Detroit – 35 years old
Contract: $2.75M – One year remaining – NTC

Admittedly it was a bit weird to type "Detroit" next to Patrick Kane's name but as far as his career goes, he has now played for the Blackhawks, Rangers, and now Red Wings. Can you get three better sweaters to wear in a career? Anywho, outside of what jersey he is wearing, all speculation of just where Kane will sign came to a close the other night, as Kane has now found a home in Detroit. It was reported that he wanted to go to a Cup contender because, well who wouldn't, but that list got short as we looked at just what clubs had cap space and just how much salary it would take to get Kane signed. I had seen upward of $4-$5 million but I thought that was a bit high given that – hand up – I thought Kane would be signing with a club closer to the New Year's than the start of January. I'm going to dive more into what we can expect from Kane in tomorrow's Looking Ahead (spoilers), but for now let's just focus on the cap hit and what we can expect moving forward.

For the list of clubs that could have signed Kane, or really any skater of significance for that matter, it was no shock that Detroit was a landing spot. They had the cap space to do it and I wouldn't be surprised if plan A was to use some of that to sign Kane, with plan B being if that didn't happen, to use that money elsewhere at the deadline. Maybe now it's a mix of both? As far as Detroit offering an extension, that is going to be a wait-and-see as we're not sure what Kane is going to look like returning from injury and we know that Steve Yzerman has been tougher with contracts. As far as when to expect Kane into the lineup two things to watch out for are obviously any news at a morning skate, and of course if Detroit makes any player movement close to or on a game day.

Anthony Beauvillier – LW/RW – Chicago – 26 years old
Contract: $4.1M – One year remaining

During the Blackhawks last contest against the Seattle Kraken, it was announced mid-game that the Hawks had traded a 5^th round pick to Vancouver for Anthony Beauvillier. Beauvillier is another player (more spoilers) that I'm going to touch on tomorrow as far as what to expect on ice, but he is a player I always really liked and honestly thought would be the one that the Islanders decided not to protect in the Seattle draft instead of Jordan Eberle.

As far as what the lines are going to look like, this could be a stellar opportunity to play with Connor Bedard if that is in fact where he'll be slotted. I could see a world where he may be on line two or a mix-and-match here and there to try and figure out just who will be on this club moving forward or potentially what type of players this club is going to pursue. For cap purposes here's all you need to know: Corey Perry cleared waivers, had his contract terminated, abd that brings in Beauvillier. I'm not going to get into any speculation on the circumstances that took place in that regard but will say that making the "knee-jerk" reaction of sorts to bring in Beauvillier for a 5^th round pick could potentially be a great move for Chicago.

Kaapo Kakko – RW – NY Rangers – 22 years old
Contract: $2.1M – One year remaining

I was worried that Kaapo Kakko's injury wasn't going to be as bad as it looked to be but unfortunately that is not the case as the Rangers have put the 22-year-old winger onto long term injured reserve. This being a salary cap article, I know we haven't fully gone over LTIR and what it could implicate for a club but in this case, this was a case that a player looks to have sustained a serious injury meaning that he will have to miss at least ten games and 24 days. Important to note as well that New York was under the salary cap at the time this injury transaction took place.

This is a tough situation for a player that I really think is close to becoming something special in the NHL. He is currently on the last year of his deal, and I'd imagine his next contract will look similar, with the chance that he goes into arbitration as he is arb eligible. I can see next season Kakko and the Rangers avoiding that situation all together and settling on a one-year number similar to what he is at this season.

The Minnesota Wild

I just want to touch really quick on the Wild and their outlook going forward. The club relieved head coach Dean Evason and an assistant coach of their duties and although that doesn't have any cap implications, it did shed light back on the Wild current cap situation. Is it great? Well, no not particularly and that's almost exclusively in part to buying out Zach Parise and Ryan Suter, each at dead cap hit of $7.37M. This is a club that I think right now leads the league in being forced to go 11/7 to suit up for games and I don't see a new coach suddenly changing that outlook in the near future. If there's one bright spot it's that Minnesota has gotten deals made for extensions, most notably Kirill Kaprizov at $9M for three more seasons, Mats Zuccarello taking a lower cap going from $6M to $4.1M next year, and Matt Boldy's 7yr x $7M contract.

The window to win was open this season but only open as far as a window on a cool fall day; not all the way open, but not shut either. The real relief comes two seasons from now, when the dead cap hits that are impacting them reduce significantly, giving them much more flexibility. I see names each time a season ends of possible buyouts, and I think we need to take a step back on some of them. Believe me, Minnesota really made a bold move buying out both Parise and Suter as when a player is bought out at their age, the club retains 2/3 of their remaining contract and the penalty is double the remaining years on the contract. I've said it before that getting too creative with the cap can ultimately prove to be a problem down the road, but more often than not buyouts are difficult because it's not easy to move a larger contract.

It is a matter of perspective. Yes, this is most certainly not a situation you want to find yourself in writing down big buyout numbers on a blackboard, but this is still a Wild club that should go into this offseason with around $10M in cap space. For perspective, the Colorado Avalanche will come into this offseason around $2M, maybe less.

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