A couple of notes as we get ready to start the 2008-09 season:
1. As I mentioned last time, every team did in fact get cap compliant by the start of the season. Every year, people worry and fret and think it won't happen - and every year, those teams "miraculously" pull it off.
2. Yes, that means even the Rangers are cap compliant ... even if the main page at Cap Central says they're not. The team page is accurate, the reason for the discrepancy is because I copied an entry over and now the cap penalty is double-counted, and I can't fix it [yet]. I'll get this fixed ASAP.
3. The rosters for every team except Edmonton and Montreal are now set based on what I've seen reported; I'll have those two set up later today. EDIT - 5:40PM: These are now taken care of.
4. Five teams are utlizing LTIR to start the season: Anaheim [Brad Larsen], Dallas [Sergei Zubov], Detroit [Chris Chelios, Darren McCarty, and Jimmy Howard], Philadelphia [Mike Rathje and Derian Hatcher], and Washington [Brian Pothier]. As a result, the indicated cap space for these four teams is slightly off. I'll explain these later today. EDIT - 5:40PM: Scratch that - it's now at least 6, as Calgary has designated Warrener for LTIR. The Blues may make 7, trying to clarify here.
5. Yes, Rhett Warrener is supposed to be on the Flames roster. He was in fact waived and cleared, but was placed on IR and will start the season there. EDIT - 5:40PM: In fact, he's on LTIR.
6. Once again, teams raced to wedge themselves under the cap - and once again, veteran players took the fall as a result. Schaefer [BOS], McLaren [S.J], Eriksson [CGY], ... guys who had NHL jobs last year find themselves in the AHL this year and will be there for a while as their teams cannot afford to bring those guys back on recall waivers and risk losing valuable cap space. Already, 11 teams have less than $1 million in cap space and only 5 teams sit under the midpoint of $48.7 million ... meaning that trying to work trades this year will be even more tricky.
I'll go into more detail on things later today, as well as cover a few more misconceptions about the CBA and the salary cap.
UPDATE - 5:40PM ... I'm still trying to run down a few pieces of information, so I'll have the new entry up late tonight or early in the morning.
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