Have you heard my new steam-punk band, Voytech and the Vole-skis?

Callahan for second-line right wing! Callahan for Captain! Callahan for President! Callahan for... one fewer year than we offered Dubinsky?!?

OK, fine, whatever, it's a slightly richer deal (cap hit of $4.275 to Dubi's $4.2), and it's only one fewer year. I'm hoping that, behind the scenes, it was taken into account that the shorter deal will leave Callahan up for negotiation a season that only Richards's, Dubinsky's, and Staal's contracts remain on the books, leaving him open to negotiate for more? I don't know, that's a theory I read somewhere, but I can't find the source anymore, so apologies to whomever I stole that idea from.

Anyway you guys, this means everyone's pretty much back, so now what? What about these rumors about a Wolski buyout? It seems that it's not likely to happen, to hear absolutely everyone tell the story. So let's take a look at the cap situation, then:

Forwards: Gaborik ($7.5m), Richards ($6,666,667), Callahan ($4.275m), Dubinsky ($4.2m), Avery ($1.9375), Anisimov ($1.875m), Boyle ($1.7m), Rupp ($1.5m), Fedotenko ($1.4m), Stepan ($0.875m), Prust ($0.8m)
Total: $32,729,167; 11 forwards

Defensemen: Staal ($3.975m), Girardi ($3.325m), McDonagh ($1.3m), Sauer ($1.25m), Eminger ($0.8m)
Total: $10.65m; 5 defensemen

Goalies: Lundqvist ($6.875m), Biron ($0.875m)
Total: $7.75m; 2 goalies

Other Bullshit: Drury's buyout hit ($3,716,667), Last season's cap overage ($0.527m)
Total: $4,243,667

That'll bring the total to $55,372,834, leaving $8,927,166 under the cap. But it also only accounts for 11 forwards and 5 defensemen. Here are some possible additions we could make to finish the roster out, and their respective cap hits:

Wolski - $3.8m
Zuccarello - $1.75m
Christensen - $0.925m
Hagelin - $0.875m
Erixon - $1.75m
Del Zotto - $1.0875m

Since an NHL roster is capped at 21 skaters (assuming 2 goalies), the above list includes one too many, and it puts us $1,260,334 over the cap. So, if we exclude Wolski, Zuccarello, or Erixon, we can afford everyone else. We couldn't, however, include Wolski, Zuccarello, and Christensen and still have room for Erixon and Del Zotto. These are, of course, solvable problems - we could carry fewer than the maximum roster size, etc.

People (myself included) are talking about buying out Wolski because it's hard to justify his $3.8 million cap hit in these circumstances, when we're paying $3.975 to Staal and $4.2 to Dubinsky. Buying out or trading Wolski surely will give us a ton of cap space. But, it looks like we've got the space to give him a shot, and if he makes the team better, we can afford that salary for this one remaining season on his deal. If, at training camp, he's not useful, we can always send him to Connecticut or bench him for a while.