On TSN, Brian Burke refused to comment on a deal that saw goaltender, Olaf Kolzig, defencemen Jamie Heward and Andy Rogers AND a fourth-round draft pick traded from the Tampa Bay Lightning to the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for a prospect Richard Petiot.

Clearly, this is a salary cap deal that will need to be reviewed by the NHL since the 26-year-old Petiot is not worth all of those players.  He has three goals, 14 assists in 45 games with Toronto Marlies of the AHL so far this season.

Kolzig is set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer but will be off the roster for the remainder of the season due to an arm injury.  In the eight games that he did play, he had a 2-4-1 record with an .898 save percentage.

Heward is also on the injured reserve list with a concussion.  He has two assists in 13 games this season and is sidelined indefinitely. 

Rogers has been in the AHL all season.

image: TSN

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The Anaheim Ducks have put Todd Bertuzzi on unconditional waivers.  Basically, they want to buy out his contract.  If no one claims him by 9am PST he will clear the waivers and the fun will begin…

The GM, Brian Burke, blames the situation on the salary cap.  Here’s what he said: “Todd Bertuzzi is a quality person who we believe can still play at the NHL level.  Unfortunately, we are handcuffed by our salary cap situation. We thank him for his efforts last year and wish him the best of luck in the future.”

In a press conference (read the whole thing here), he assured the media that, if there was no salary cap, he would not be getting rid of Big Bert.  He said that, although Bertuzzi has been a good member of the team, he just can’t justify paying him $4 million.  Ouch…

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I almost choked on my lunch when I read this!  Vincent Lecavalier has signed a 9-year contract with the Tampa Bay Lightning for… $77 million dollars! 

Okay, yes the number is big but when you break it down to what he will make per year, it’s actually not any more than Sidney Crosby’s deal.  While Vin will make $8.55 million per season, Sid will make $9 million (for most of the contract).  Still, to be given that kind of money for nine whole years (assuming he continues to play) is pretty incredible.

I know Vinny wanted to stay in Tampa so I’m really happy for him.

The Pittsburgh Penguins have filed for salary arbitration with their star goaltender, Marc-Andre Fleury.  Arbitration hearings will take place from July 20th to August 4th.  This will give the Pens time to negotiate Fleury’s contract since it will prevent him from becoming a free agent on July 1st. 

I think it’s a smart move.  Despite his slightly lacklustre performance during the Stanley Cup Finals, I think he’s a valuable goalie and, hopefully, he will learn from this season and be even better next year.

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*sigh* More salary cap stuff… I’m going to be honest - I don’t completely understand this but here’s the story anyway:

Player paycheques will be 9.5 per cent smaller during the first quarter of the 2007-08 NHL season, but that money could find its way back later on depending on the league’s bottom line.

The money withheld goes to a fund established under the new collective bargaining agreement to ensure owners don’t give up more in player salaries than their allotted share of revenues.

The NHL and NHL Players’ Association signed off on the 9.5 per cent number for the first quarter of the season on Tuesday, sources told The Canadian Press, and will monitor revenues throughout the season to see if it needs to be adjusted.

Last season players had 10 per cent of their paycheques held back but the final calculations saw players only pay out 2.76 per cent to the league with the rest reimbursed. In the end, once interest was factored in, the players earned 97.51 per cent of their 2006-07 salaries and bonuses.

In 2005-06, the first year of the CBA, the owners were the ones that got dinged - having to pay players back 4.37 per cent.

The final tally for this season will be figured out next fall.

A percentage of player salaries is held back because it’s impossible to predict league revenues and total player compensation in advance.

The salary cap continues to go up, with the players’ going up to 55.6 per cent last season from 54 per cent of revenues in 2005-06.

Tags: NHL, NHLPA, salary cap

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Wow… I used the word “earning” lightly since, really, deals can turn sour in a heartbeat. Still, tonight Daniel Brière of the Philadelphia Flyers earned his keep when he almost single-handedly spanked the Calgary Flames to lead his team to a 3-2 win for the season opener.

So, who are these men getting the big bucks? No major surprises here but I was pretty shocked that Miikka Kiprusoff was not on the list of highest paid netminders. Not good, not cool. Anyway, here’s the list!

The NHL’s top-10 pay by position this season (all figures U.S. dollars):

Forwards

• Thomas Vanek, Buffalo, $10 million
• Daniel Briere, Philadelphia, $10 million
• Scott Gomez, N.Y. Rangers, $10 million
• Jaromir Jagr, N.Y. Rangers, $8.36 million
• Brad Richards, Tampa Bay, $7.8 million
• Patrik Elias, New Jersey, $7.5 million
• Ryan Smyth, Colorado, $7.5 million
• Chris Drury, N.Y. Rangers, $7.1 million
• Jarome Iginla, Calgary, $7.0 million
• Marian Hossa, Atlanta, $7.0 million

Defencemen

• Kimmo Timonen, Philadelphia, $8.0 million
• Nicklas Lidstrom, Detroit, $7.6 million
• Zdeno Chara, Boston, $7.5 million
• Bryan McCabe, Toronto, $7.15 million
• Ed Jovanovski, Phoenix, $7.0 million
• Wade Redden, Ottawa, $6.5 million
• Chris Pronger, Anaheim, $6.25 million
• Sheldon Souray, Edmonton, $6.25 million
• Rob Blake, Los Angeles, $6.0 million
• Brian Rafalski, Detroit, $6.0 million

Goaltenders

• Nikolai Khabibulin, Chicago, $6.75 million
• Roberto Luongo, Vancouver, $6.5 million
• Jose Theodore, Colorado, $6.0 million
• Marty Turco, Dallas, $5.7 million
• J.S. Giguere, Anaheim, $5.5 million
• Olaf Kolzig, Washington, $5.45 million
• Thomas Vokoun, Florida, $5.3 million
• Martin Brodeur, New Jersey, $5.2 million
• Evgeni Nabokov, San Jose, $5.0 million
• Rick DiPietro, N.Y. Islanders, $4.5 million
• Manny Fernandez, Boston, $4.5 million

Tags: hockey, highest paid, NHL salary, player salaries

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The NHL must be doing a lot better given the league has raised the salary cap to $50.3-million from $44-million. The minimum a team can spend is $34.3-million, while the top salary that an individual player can make is now $10.6-million.

Even though television revenue in the U.S. is almost non-existent, the salary cap has been raised because league revenue has climbed 29% in the past two years - probably due to higher ticket prices than anything else. Of course, this source of revenue growth is sustainable for only so long.

With the NHL free-agent bonanza poised to kick off on July 1, the question you got to ask is how high will a team be willing to go to snap one of the top stars such as Daniel Briere, Chris Drury, Ryan Smyth or Scott Gomez.

With the salary-cap expected to climb to $50-million and teams able to allocate 20% of the cap to one player, is a $10-million a player out of the question?

If the Montreal Canadiens are serious about luring Briere back to Quebec maybe it will take $10-million to pull it off, especially given Montreal’s difficulties in attracting UFA in recent years (Brenden Shanahan, for example, turned down a higher offer from the Canadiens last year to sign with the Rangers).

For more thoughts, check out today’s Globe & Mail. As well, ESPN’s Scott Burnside has an extensive look at the top free-agent forwards and where they might end up.

So let’s put the NHL draft behind us. After all, we’re talking about 18-year-old players with lots of potential but no guarantee they will ever become solid NHL players. Anyone remember Greg Joly or Doug Wickenheiser? (Note: Later this week, my brother, Sean, will be producing a multi-part analysis of the #1 picks in the NHL draft over the last three decades).

The biggest off-season development will kick off July 1 when the unrestricted free-agent buying festival kicks off. With high-profile players such as Chris Drury, Daniel Briere, Ryan Smyth and Scott Gomez on the market, you can expect the spending to be fast and furious next week. This is when the shift in competitive balance will be impacted as star players align themselves with new employers. Look for the San Jose Sharks to be among the most active.

What does Dave Pelton see that other don’t? A Nashville businessman, Pelton believes the Nashville Predators deserve to be in Nashville. I guess this view must be based more on civic pride than the fact the team barely draws 14,000 fans a game and it has little corporate support. Meanwhile, Predators owner Craig Leipold suggests he has lost a staggering $70-million since he bought the franchise 10 years ago, including $15-million last year.

Nevertheless, Pelton argues that “the Predators are an important part of our city. In addition to the great atmosphere at the games, our hockey team also provides a boost to the restaurants and other businesses that surround the arena. I have been to quite a few games, and I always have an amazing time! We should work to keep the Predators right here in Nashville.”

Dave, I hate to bust your balloon but the Predators staying in Nashville ain’t going to happen. Leipold has already suggested NHL hockey doesn’t work economically in Nashville so whether it’s Jim Balsillie or some other owner, or Leopold moving the team to a new location, the Predators are leaving town. It’s a matter of when, not if.

One of the more fascinating suggestions being thrown around these days is Leipold will gut the team over the off-season to reduce his losses. This means making no effort to sign unrestricted free agents such as Paul Kariya, who made $4.5-million last year; Peter Forsberg ($5.75-million); Kimmo Timonen ($2.28-million) and Scott Hartnell ($1.75-million). If Leipold declines to re-sign the Predators’ free-agents and the team’s performance goes south, do you think Nashville fans will continue to support the team? You have to remember this is a market that was unwilling or unable to support one of the best teams in the NHL last year.

For more views, check out Gorilla Couch, who believes the only standing in the way of Balsillie moving the team to Hamilton is the NHL’s board of governors approving his $238-million purchase of the team.