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About two weeks ago, I took a stab at estimating the Chicago Fire's cap space going in to 2014. Now that the Fire have offloaded nine players in the first stage of the Re-Entry Draft, things look a little more comfortable for Frank Yallop and Brian Bliss.
Of the players the Fire were able to purge themselves of, three were off-budget: Michael Videira, Corben Bone and Shaun Francis.
A total of six players were officially cleared from the Fire's books, in my estimate on December 2, I had already cut Logan Pause from the Fire's payroll. Below are the other five players who freed up cap space:
| Player | Salary |
| Joel Lindpere | $180,000 |
| Maicon Santos | $157,000 |
| Chris Rolfe | $225,000 |
| Wells Thompson | $105,000 |
| Daniel Paladini | $86,625 |
| TOTAL | $753,625 |
With those salaries clear, here is a rough sketch of what the Fire might have available with the Salary Cap.
| Previously Projected Fire Salary for FY14 | $2,728,875 |
| Freed Up Cap Space | $753,625 |
| Adjusted - Projected Fire Salary for FY14 | $1,975,250 |
| Projected FY14 Salary Cap Number | $3,100,000 |
| UPDATED Projected Fire Cap Space for FY14 | $1,124,750 |
Yes, that's right. The Fire could have about a cool million to use on new players this off-season. The Fire have enough space to bring back Logan Pause and possible Chris Rolfe at lower salaries and still have room to work with. Either way, the Fire are going to have a busy off-season, and they'll have a good amount of cap space available to make this off-season a little easier.
