via agaudi.files.wordpress.com

With Raymond and Bieksa up in the air and Salo on a fast track for LTIR, the question of who is filling our bottom 6 is the big cap question right now. Some people have raved and railed, saying we're screwed in the depth chart thanks to over spending on the blueline and Malhotra, but let's take a look at some numbers (Shout out to Behind the Net for the advanced stats):

We lost:

Pavol Demitra16pts, 0.17 corsi rating

Steve Bernier 22pts,  -0.57cr

Kyle Wellwood 25pts, 0.01 cr

Ryan Johnson 5pts, -1.31 cr

Lost: 68pts, -0.425 average cr

We gained:

Manny Malhotra 33pts, 1.09 cr

Victor Oreskovich 6pts, -1.26 cr

Jeff Tambellini 14pts,  -0.5 cr

Gained: 53pts, -0.22 average cr

Sum: -15pts, +.205 average cr

So we're scoring a little less, we're down one depth guy, but we're doing better on the zone control. So, we need one more player

Who's in reserve (BTN):

Cody Hodgson 40 pts projected

Jordan Schroeder 41 pts projected

Sergei Shirokov 30 pts projected

So, pick Hodgson or Schroeder, slot them in and you're up 25 points over last year's roster and presumably your corsi looks all right with those two looking like decent 2 way guys.

We now look like this:

FORWARDS
Henrik Sedin ($6.100m) / Daniel Sedin ($6.100m) / Alexandre Burrows ($2.000m)
Mikael Samuelsson ($2.500m) / Ryan Kesler ($5.000m) / Manny Malhotra ($2.500m)
Jannik Hansen ($0.825m) / Cody Hodgson ($1.666m) / Tanner Glass ($0.625m)
Victor Oreskovich ($0.575m) / Rick Rypien ($0.550m) / Jeff Tambellini ($0.500m)
/ Darcy Hordichuk ($0.775m)

DEFENSEMEN
Dan Hamhuis ($4.500m) / Keith Ballard ($4.200m)
Kevin Bieksa ($3.750m) / Sami Salo ($3.500m)
Alexander Edler ($3.250m) / Christian Ehrhoff ($3.100m)
Shane O'Brien ($1.600m)

GOALTENDERS
Roberto Luongo ($5.333m) /Cory Schneider ($0.900m)


SALARY CAP: $59,400,000; CAP PAYROLL: $59,940,000; BONUSES: $850,000
CAP SPACE (22-man roster): $310,000

Not great, but not too shabby compared to last year. So, counting Hordichuk's salary, we have basically a cool million to resign Raymond. It's likely Salo's tendon buys us another 500k in cap space due to LTIR, so maybe 1.5 for May Ray. Assuming he's going to be 3 mil, we're 1.5 million over the cap.

So Bieksa gets traded.

And suddenly we have about 1.75 million to play with, assuming it's Tambo and Hordichuk who ship out. when Alberts, Raymond and Depth Player ship in.

We look like this:

CAPGEEK.COM CAP CALCULATOR

FORWARDS
Henrik Sedin ($6.100m) / Daniel Sedin ($6.100m) / Alexandre Burrows ($2.000m)
Mikael Samuelsson ($2.500m) / Ryan Kesler ($5.000m) / Mason Raymond ($3.000m)
Jannik Hansen ($0.825m) / Cody Hodgson ($1.666m) / Manny Malhotra ($2.500m)
Victor Oreskovich ($0.575m) / Rick Rypien ($0.550m) / Tanner Glass ($0.625m)

Depth Player ($1.75)

DEFENSEMEN
Dan Hamhuis ($4.500m) / Keith Ballard ($4.200m)
Alexander Edler ($3.250m) / Sami Salo ($3.500m)
Shane O'Brien ($1.600m) / Christian Ehrhoff ($3.100m)
Andrew Alberts ($1.050m)

GOALTENDERS
Roberto Luongo ($5.333m) /Cory Schneider ($0.900m)

CARRY-OVER BONUS PENALTY: $90,000

CAP SPACE (21-man roster): $-490,000 (Remember, Salo's LTIR until Nov, probably, 20 games, or 825,000 in cap -300,000 for 25% of Oberg's contract= 525,000 in relief )

Solid top 5 d-core, a two way scoring threat for the third line and a fourth line of bangers. Hard, mean bangers. And the potential for one more for 1-1.75 mil.

Add an Art Ross Centre, A multiple selke nominee, and four 25 goal scorers, your depth chart looks pretty good.

Is there a problem with the bottom 6? If we trade Bieksa, I don't think so.