Could Godard Be Done For The Season?
Matt Bodenschatz | Pittsburgh Penguins
Jan 28, 01:38 PM | Hype this story!
News out of Pittsburgh this afternoon is that enforcer Eric Godard will be sidelined four to six weeks with what is being called a groin injury.
“He is still be evaluated with where he is at with that. It will be long term,“coach Dan Bylsma said.
Could this be a hint that Godard might just have played his last game of the season?
It sure seems likely.
Through 54 games, Godard has averaged the least icetime of the 29 players who have worn the black and gold this season. With an average of 4:15 of ice time per game, it’s clear he was being used almost exclusively in a pugilistic role.
As the season comes to an end, the need to fill such a role becomes less because teams focus more on winning via hockey tactics and focus less on fighting.
And if Godard is placed on long-term injured reserves through the end of the season, general manager Ray Shero could save himself a few hundred thousand dollars in cap space that could come in handy at the trade deadline.
With a four to six week timeline, Godard could return as early as late February. Then again, it may also be mid-March. Or, as Bylsma indicated, following an evaluation at the conclusion of that timeline, it could be longer.
If the latter is the case, it certainly isn’t out of the question that Shero just might choose to keep the tough guy out of the lineup leading to the April 11 season finale.
Then, once the playoffs begin, when the salary cap no longer is in effect, Godard could be activated and used, if needed — though he didnt’ so much as dress for a game during the 2009 Stanley Cup run.
Comments
Pens1967
Jan 28, 04:23 PM
I just have a hard time believing this is a groin and not a knee injury. The 4-6 week time frame is more in line with a knee ligament sprain/tear than a groin injury. I’d think a groin problem severe enough to be out a month and a half is one that would also likely need surgery.
Matt Bodenschatz
Jan 28, 04:26 PM
I wonder why they’d disguise it, though?
Pens1967
Jan 28, 04:35 PM
Because that’s what they do, Matt. But seriously, when Godard skated off, he did not use his forward leg at all. He was just gliding on it and pushing with the back leg.
If he hadn’t been on ice and able to glide, he would have been helped off, imho. I’ve never had an injury to that part of the body, but I’d think with an injury that severe it would be hard to push off even with the uninjured muscle.
bag o' pucks
Jan 28, 04:41 PM
It appeared he kind of caught a rut coming around the net and also took a shove in the lower back at just the right (or wrong) time. I thought knee when I initially saw it, too, but I also thought that a guy who goes down with a knee injury will more often look to get his weight off that knee by rolling to his side and getting the injured knee elevated just a bit off the ice. That’s just instinct, subconscious.
Godard didn’t to that, he went down on all fours and stayed that way until he drifted into the boards. That’s when I thought, okay, maybe an ankle or lower back injury. Groin makes sense, too.
ppirilla
Jan 28, 04:56 PM
My understanding is that LTIR only saves a team cap space that is the DIFFERENCE between the player’s cap hit and the space they have remaining under the cap.
In the Pens case with Godard, I believe this will amount to well under $100 K. A cap savings, sure, but not exactly enough to turn a deadline deal.
Matt Bodenschatz
Jan 28, 05:21 PM
@Ppirilla, i am far from a cap guru and never profess to be. So I may be entirely wrong here.
But…
I believe LTIR saves the team the amount of cap hit left behind by the player.
26 games left = 32% of the season
Godard’s cap hit = $750,000
750,000 × 32% = $237,804
So, if Godard stays out the balance of the season (and that is the only way this would work, as once he returns, his full cap hit returns) the Penguins would get a cushion of $237,804 worth of full season cap hit. That’s not a ton, but when translated to full-season salary, it ups the money significantly for Shero.
philmatt24
Jan 28, 05:42 PM
I’ve always preferred the idea of leaving Godard out of the lineup and (if necessary) letting Rupp, Adams, Cooke, or Talbot act as “enforcer”. I’d rather have a useful skater/passer/player than a bump on a log… but then I’m not HCDB or Shero, and those guys just won us a Cup…
Ben Schmidt
Jan 28, 05:42 PM
Technically, LTIR doesn’t save on cap space, actually. It just allows the team to exceed the cap by the remaining cap hit of the player on IR, and only for a single replacement player (for example, if Gonchar was on LTIR for an entire season, only a single player’s salary could exceed the cap – they wouldn’t be able to use the entire extra $5M unless it was all on a single player).
In the case of Godard, if it is for the remainder of the season, it doesn’t really make a difference, but if he’s coming back, then it isn’t like the team gets that pro-rated amount added to their cap space to work with for the remainder of the season, unlike, say, sending waiver-exempt players back and forth between the NHL and the AHL.
Matt Bodenschatz
Jan 28, 05:52 PM
@Ben, if he’s out the balance of the season, the pro-rated amount gets added to the cap for the balance of the season and can be used to add one player. But it doesn’t have to be just this money used on the one player. It can be this amount, plus any additional cap space the team has. So, while it technically doesn’t save on cap space, it does give the Penguins wiggle room to add to their lineup at the deadline — that is, assuming he is to miss the rest of the regular season. If there are plans to bring him back by the season’s end, this doesn’t work.
Moq
Jan 28, 10:14 PM
Ben, you can use as many replacement players as the roster limit and compliance of the upper limit allows.
Pens1967
Jan 29, 02:42 PM
If I were Shero, and especially given Skoulas recent play, I think I’d be giving a lot of thought to waiving Skoula and recalling Derek Engelland. Engelland’s a pretty tough customer and could dress as either a 5/6 pair or 7th defenseman. He would certainly give the defense a nastier edge than they have now.
Matt Bodenschatz
Jan 29, 03:16 PM
I’d be surprised if Skoula doesn’t get waived at or before the trade deadline. Shero needs to add one defenseman with some grit and one forward with top-two line skill. He’ll need to make some cap room for both, and dropping Skoula would help.
Ben Schmidt
Jan 29, 03:32 PM
I got it a little wrong – there may be more than one replacement player, but the total cap hit of the replacements may not exceed the cap hit of the player being replaced:
NHL CBA (p227) Section 50.10(d)(iii):
“The total replacement Player Salary and Bonuses for a Player of Players that have replaced an unfit-to-play Player may not in the aggregate exceed the amount of the Player Salary and Bonuses of the unfit-to-play Player who the Club is replacing;”
In any case, looking through the CBA, while it allows the team to exceed the Upper Limit, it doesn’t negate the player’s cap hit during the time he’s on LTIR. While it may seem a bit pedantic, it can affect how much pro-rated salary they can bring in at the deadline (for instance, having Talbot on LTIR at the beginning of the season doesn’t do them any good for Cap space now that he’s active).
If Godard is expected to be out for the remainder of the season (which is only speculative currently), then it probably works out about the same, but as of right now, we’re only sure of 4-6 weeks, which is not the rest of the season.
Matt Bodenschatz
Jan 29, 03:42 PM
@Ben, the entire premise of my suggestion revolved around Godard sitting out the balance of the season, thus allowing the Pens to exceed the cap by his remaining salary for the balance of the season.
No matter how you look at it, putting Godard on LTIR for the rest of the season would allow Shero to have more money to play with at the trade deadline — that’s the idea, and it just may come to fruition, along with, say, waiving Martin Skoula in favor of adding a more reliable/physical defender.
Ben Schmidt
Jan 29, 03:58 PM
@Matt – Ah, yes, I think I lost the forest for the trees for a moment there ;)
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