‘Yotes Notes: Chayka still has flexibility despite current cap crunch

John Chayka was asked Tuesday if he was concerned about Arizona’s current cap situation. The question was so foreign to a Coyotes GM that Chayka paused a moment and laughed faintly.

“Yeah, we’re a cap team,” he said.

After signing restricted free agent left wing Tobias Rieder to a two-year, $4.45 million deal, the Coyotes have $862,162 in cap space, according to generalfanager.com, depending on which players make the final, 23-man roster.

The Coyotes are not, of course, a cap team. They have nearly $18 million tied up in the contracts of retired defenseman Chris Pronger ($4.941 million), center Pavel Datsyuk ($7.5 million), who has returned to the KHL, and injured center Dave Bolland ($5.5 million) — not to mention the buyout money owed to Nashville center Mike Ribeiro ($1.44 million) and Anaheim center Antoine Vermette ($1.25 million).

They don’t have to pay a cent of Datsyuk’s salary, so Pronger’s and Bolland’s contracts are the most notable because the Coyotes expect to use long-term injured reserve with both, thereby gaining some potential cap relief (and salary relief) that Chayka said they could use to acquire more players if needed or exceed the cap, per league rules.

The basic formula for how much a team can exceed the cap with long-term injured reserve players looks like this: The cap hit of the LTIR player(s) minus the amount of cap space available. If generalfanager’s current Coyotes cap number is used, that would mean the Coyotes could exceed the cap by about $9.578 million if they wanted.

The Coyotes are in good shape because they have no concerns about either of those high-salary players returning at any point during this season. If they had to make room for one, that would cause a problem, but barring a rash of injuries, they should be fine.

“We’ve got some flexibility. We obviously we have the ability, both the assets and in some cap space, to make moves if need be,” Chayka said. “That’s not an issue for me moving forward in terms of restricting any movement.

The Coyotes may also need the cap relief because a number of their players have attainable bonuses in their contracts, including captain Shane Doan, and forwards Max Domi, Anthony Duclair and Dylan Strome, that could push them over the cap, Chayka said.

There are more complexities, which you can view at this link.

After this season, Datsyuk and Pronger both come off the books, creating even more flexibility, and it is possible Bolland could remain on LTIR for the remaining three years of his contract.

MORE CUTS COMING

Coach Dave Tippett said the next round of cuts would likely come Friday. He is not certain how many will come that day. The Coyotes training camp roster stands at 32. Rosters must be trimmed to 23 by Oct. 11 at 2 p.m. Arizona time.

With only one preseason game left after Wednesday’s game in Calgary, some of the remaining nine cuts are fairly obvious. Goalie Justin Peters is scheduled to be the starter for Tucson of the American Hockey League. It’s also probable that forward Stefan Fournier and defenseman Dakota Mermis will be sent down. Defenseman Jarred Tinordi is still suspended for four more games for violating the terms of the NHL/NHLPA Performance Enhancing Substances Program last season, and if injured defenseman Michael Stone (ACL rehab) is not ready to start the season, that means the Coyotes will have to trim four more players.

Centers Dylan Strome, Christian Dvorak and Laurent Dauphin are battling it out for what would appear to be two roster spots, but the Coyotes will keep 13 or 14 forwards so they will need at least one extra player beyond the regular four forward lines.

Defensemen Jakob Chychrun and Anthony DeAngelo are giving the coaching staff a lot to think about with their preseason performances.

Left wing Lawson Crouse and right wing Christian Fischer have also impressed.

“Chychrun and Crouse and Dauphin … what they’ve done is just driven up the competition in camp so much that it has made it a very competitive camp, and I think you’ve seen the results in the games,” Tippett said on Bickley & Marotta on Wednesday afternoon. “I think we’re 4-1-1 in exhibition now and every game, we’ve been very, very competitive.”

Tippett was asked specifically about Chychrun and here’s what he had to say.

“It’s great to see a young player like that come in with the mindset that ‘I’m just going to make your team; ‘I’m just going to be good enough that you can’t get rid of me’ and he’s played that way all through camp.'”

LOOSE PUCKS

— Chayka said Stone (ACL/MCL surgery) has been cleared for contact and is practicing with the team but there has been no update on a timeline for his return. The team still has not ruled out the possibility that he will play in the season opener.

— Christian Dvorak scored his first goal of the preseason on a terrific feed from Christian Fischer in the Coyotes’ 2-1 shootout loss to the Flames on Wednesday in Calgary. Matthew Tkachuk scored for the Flames on a first-period power play, and he was the lone player to score in a shootout. Luke Schenn also had an assist for the Coyotes.

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