WWYDW: Should the Jets pursue Datsyuk’s Contract?
7 years ago
Welcome to this week’s version of What Would You Do Wednesday where you are asked a question and debate among yourselves what the answer is. Unfortunately, the only prize you will receive will be the most Twitter mentions.
For this week’s What Would You Do Wednesday, I am posing the question, would you trade for Pavel Datsyuk’s contract?
If you have not been paying attention to the hockey world, one of the major events that has happened is Pavel Datsyuk leaving the NHL to go play in the KHL. This has left Ken Holland and the rest of the Red Wings’ management scrambling to move Datsyuk’s contract.
The Red Wings need that cap space to remain competitive, but have to find a suitor willing to trade and buyout Datsyuk’s contract. There have been some rumours flying about that Holland is willing to give up assets like Andreas Athanasiou and 1st rounder Evgeny Svechnikov.
Those are some pretty good assets to acquire, but there are some risks. Datsyuk’s contract will still have the cap hit of $7.5 million because Datsyuk was 35 at the start of the contract. However, the Jets will only have to pay $1,833,333 million in salary for both the 2016-17 and 2017-18 seasons.
The issue is the Jets have an internal cap and ownership may not be willing to cough up the money. As well, there is the issue of having $7.5 million less in cap space for the 2016-17 season. This is a huge issue if the Jets want to be competitive.
Additionally, the Jets still have RFAs to sign, most notably Mark Scheifele and Jacob Trouba.
Addendum: It has come to our attention that the Jets would not need to buyout the contract, but rather just carry the large Cap Hit, as the contract would carry no salary with retirement. Our apologies for the error.
What Would You Do Jets Nation?
Do you risk taking on the $7.5 million in cap space? Is potentially sacrificing being competitive for another season worth the risk of getting young prospects?
As always leave your answers and suggestions in the comments or on Twitter with the #wwydw hash tag and mention to @NHLJetsNation and/or me: @canadiankyian.
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