Despite Increase, Teams Bumping Against Cap

The Flyers are about $7 million under the cap and are trying to sign Jeff Carter, Randy Jones, and Riley Cote. If Carter really does sign for $5 million per, that leaves them with $2 million for the rest of the team. Sure, they would love to lose Hatcher’s salary as pointed out in the article, but you can’t just tell a player to retire. And Hatch wants to get paid, yo.

In Anaheim, the Ducks are talking trades and buyouts to accommodate Scott Neidermeyer and Teemu Salanne.

And the Penguins are royally screwed with 12 unrestricted free agents, Marc-Andre Fleury on the restricted list, and Evgeni Malkin being offered the GNP of Honduras to go play in Russia. Marion Hossa and now Brooks Orpik have rejected contract offers, and all that after a wildly successful playoff run that took the town by storm and led to new heights in fan enthusiasm and attendance. We’ll see if they are taken to task as badly as the Sabres were for failing to lock up their players long-term.