Boyle, etc.

Sorry, work's been hectic. Here's the short summary. Boyle signed, 3 years, $1.7 million per year. Great! Cheaper than I expected him to come. Here's the quick-and-easy summary:

Under the summer cap, by my math, we've got $13,609,166 left to sign Callahan, Dubinsky, and whomever else we like. This relies on the assumption that our two-way contracts are costing us $2.5 million under the summer cap, which is an approximation I came up with and have not confirmed. We've already committed $2.4m to Cally and $2m to Dubi in qualifying offers, leaving us about $9.2 million to give them raises and sign whomever else this summer.

For the season's cap, let's make some bold assumptions to make things easy to understand. Let's assume we end up with four two-way contracts on the roster for opening night: Zuccarello, Stepan, McDonagh, and Del Zotto. That'd leave us with $11,166,666 to spend on Dubinsky, Callahan, and anyone else we sign. Again, $4.4 million is already committed to Dubi's and Cally's qualifiers, leaving about $6.8 million to give them raises and sign anyone else.

Because that second figure is lower, it's probably safer to use it (even though it's more ambiguous because it's based on who ends up on the roster). Even this lower number ($6,766,666 after Dubi and Cally's $4.4m) sounds like plenty of room to get done what we have to get done.

As for deadlines, Dubinsky's arbitration hearing is scheduled for this Thursday, while Cally's is a week later. There is no reason these deals shouldn't be done by then, but I hope you'll forgive me for getting a little nervous right now, given how long Dubinsky's contract negotiations lasted two years ago. I see no indication that Dubinsky's agent then, Kurt Overhardt, is not still his agent now.

That said, according to everyone who has said anything on the subject, we have every reason to expect these contracts to be signed before their respective arbitration hearings. Here's hoping!