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 …read more

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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 …read more

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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 …read more

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 …read more

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 …read more

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 …read more

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 …read more

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 …read more