Salary cap, team update

You'll recall my previous discussion about our current team, a convenient chart from which will now be reprinted for your convenience.

Under contract (numbers listed are cap hit, not salary)
Scott Gomez - $7.4 million
Chris Drury - $7.1 million
Sean Avery - $1.9 million
Aaron Voros - $1 million
Wade Redden - $6.5 million
Michal Rozsival - $5 million
Dan Girardi - $1.6 million
Marc Staal - $0.8 million
Henrik Lundqvist - $6.9 million

Restricted free agents (* means eligible for arbitration)
Nikolai Zherdev *
Lauri Korpikoski
Fredrik Sjostrom *
Brandon Dubinsky
Ryan Callahan *

Unrestricted free agents
Nik Antropov
Blair Betts
Colton Orr
Derek Morris
Paul Mara
Stephen Valiquette

Retired
Markus Naslund

So we're committed to $38.2 million on those 9 players. Which, again, is horrible. The draft weekend news that people miss sometimes is the assignment of the season's salary cap. As expected, it rose marginally. Um...more marginally than you'd think. It went up $100,000. From $56.7 million to $56.8. So, yeah, we're in a pickle. 56.8 - 38.2 = 18.6, for those of you keeping score at home. $18.6 million to resign 10 people and find a replacement for Naslund. And that's just to get back up to as "good" as we were last season. So, yeah, some moves are gonna have to be made.

You know my plan: stick Redden in the minors, free up his salary. But that's not going to happen, I imagine. What likely will happen is we'll try to make some big trade to move Drury or Gomez's salary (since Redden and Roszival are completely unshoppable, and Lundqvist is completely off limits), and use that freedom to build the rest of a roster. So, that's where we stand.

Oh, yeah, and also there's a reason I wrote this post. There are developments.

1. It seems we've offered Nikolai Zherdev a $3.25 million qualifying offer. Yeah, that Nik. I'm not sure how to feel about this. On the one hand, I like Zherdev a lot, and Torts can probably whip him into shape over a season. On the other hand, he's incredibly inconsistent and 18.6 - 3.25 = 15.35!!! We'll see if he accepts it, possibly as soon as tomorrow.

2. Meanwhile, much to my girlfriend's dismay, the other Nik (you know - the consistent one) will almost certainly be departing us. Brooks reports that Sather referred to the contract he requested as "ridiculous." And I'm not sure how a team with $15 million to spend on 10 players comes to terms with a "ridiculous" contract request. I'm sad about this. If I was gonna spend $3 million on a Nik, it probably would have been Antropov. But my guess is that he asked for way more than that - in fact, rumor has it that he's looking to go unrestricted and find a multi-year deal at $5 million or more per. So, yeah - that wasn't gonna happen. I'm sad to see him go, but I guess that's life (when you sign your shitty pair of defensemen for $11.5 million worth of cap space).

3. Sjostrom will likely not return to Broadway this year. Slats revealed, apparently, that he won't be offered the $882,000 offer he'd need to qualify (ie not become an unrestricted free agent this summer). This one I'm sad about. If Zherdev is worth $3 million to us, Sjos is probably worth $1 million. He and Betts have been such a goddamn solid tandem, possibly the most consistent pair of forwards over the 2008-'09 season. Can you imagine how our season would have gone if we replaced our #1 PK unit with a middle-of-the-road PK? Yeah, exactly.

4. Speaking of our Penalty Kill, Steve Zipay reports that Slats thinks Betts "could be wooed by Edmonton." Of course, this means nothing much, but Betts is apparently on the table, I guess. Including an awkward "Tom [Renney] always liked him." I dunno how much credence or value to give to this, but it's interesting that Betts has come up as a give-uppable name before, like, Derek Morris? Whatever, he's a UFA anyway, so we'll see what offers come his way. We can't keep everyone I like.

Overall, in really good news, Sather seems to understand that it's time to concentrate on the youth. When asked about bringing in free agents to help out with our defensive problems, his answer was (thanks, Michael Obernauer) "(Matt) Gilroy, (Bobby) Sanguinetti, (Michael) Del Zotto, (Michael) Sauer, (Corey) Potter - there's five guys who are banging on the door to play...(Tomorrow), that's really the first indication of how serious these guys are about taking the jobs. There is opportunity there." ("Tomorrow" refers to the start of developmental camp.) That's a very promising answer. And while throwing money at Zherdev might seem a little weird, and losing Antropov is sad, it looks like an overall trend to concentrate on the youth, not to overspend on one or two silver bullets. Sure, I'm terrified - we've got major problems - but it's exciting to read headlines like "Sather knows it's time to get younger," even if it's meaningless.

Remember, kids: restricted free agency ends in 3 days. With the Zherdev and Sjostrom questions kinda answered, expect some kind of news on Callahan (eligible for arbitration) as well as Korpikoski and Dubinsky (not) within that time period. Also, as I mentioned, expect an answer from Zherdev.

I'll keep you posted!