MacK_Attack

The cap is entirely tied to revenue. 55% (or whatever it is) goes to the players. It will keep going up because the Canadian dollar is stronger and 40% of league revenues come from the six Canadian teams.

I've heard there's as many as a half-dozen teams preparred to claim him, mostly top-end teams. (Ottawa, Philly, Dallas, Carolina etc.)

Recchi has been placed on re-entry waivers.

Beauchemin gets them half the cap space that they need. They need to clear a little over $3,000,000 and Beauchemin makes $1,650,000. You aren't going to find another guy at that price who can play the kind of minutes that he can. Bertuzzi just isn't tradable at $4,000,000 on a non-rental basis. I would think they'd like to hang on to Andy McDonald at $3,333,333, however, if it comes right down to it, he could move.

He'll be on re-entry's soon.

Yeah, going over the cap is a fairly major issue.

I have a hunch he'll end up back in Long Island.

That applies only to Group II RFA's. Group III UFA's who have not signed to play in Europe can sign anytime before the trade deadline.

I would say TSN will probably carry it right before the Pens/Oilers game.

Brian Burke has called a press conference for 9:30pm EST tonight regarding the playing status of Scott Niedermayer.

Lack of confidence, I'd say. Goaltenders aren't making key saves, defence are missing easy assignments and scoring is often too late to matter. They'll turn it around soon and go back to dominating.

Recchi cleared waivers.

He also played over 70 games. Raycroft just doesn't have the attitude to be a successful goaltender over the long term. He isn't very accountable for his own play, it doesn't bother him when he doesn't play well and he really has no problem being a back-up. Toskala, on the other hand, is finally getting used to being used for target practice and is getting used to the intense scrutiny that comes with playing in Toronto. I think he'll be fine. The Leafs aren't going to be trading for a goaltender. They'd love to move Raycroft and then promote Clemmensen from the AHL.

Kurri rode shotgun for Gretzky in the high-powered 80s, while Sundin's prime had him playing in the trap era with Jonas Hoglund.

He'll clear. Might get claimed on re-entry waivers.

http://tsn.ca/nhl/news_story/?ID=224272&hubname=nhl

Exactly. Let's consider the source of this supposed rumour. It's from Bruce Garrioch, an Ottawa Sun homer who would love nothing more than to see the Leafs get ripped off for Sundin.

It's the first time he's ever been truly healthy. He's had a career full of freak injuries.

I don't think pressure had anything to do with it. He's played in Toronto for nearly 15 years, the pressure is second nature to him. Personally, I feel as if it's just personal pride. If he isn't a first line player anymore, he doesn't want to keep playing in the NHL. He'll just keep signing one year deals and he'll judge his play year-by-year. I think if he does get traded, he'll go back to Toronto because he's pretty set on scoring 1,000 points as a Leaf.

The thing is, those desparate teams (like a Columbus or something like that) would be willing to absolutely sell the farm for a guy like Sundin. Mats may control his destination, but he's loyal to a fault and I wouldn't be surprised to see him go to whichever team offers the best package for him. That's the kind of guy he is. I don't think Detroit could offer the best trade package.

I don't think Sundin is willing to sign a long-term deal with anybody at this point. He has said that his career is very much year-to-year now and he doesn't want to be a 40-year old has-been in the NHL. He will retire sooner than most think.

He did a pretty solid job of shutting Crosby down last night. He's been close to a point-per-game (including 5 points in the last three games) and a great contributor most nights. Plus, he's only played on a regular line with Sundin the last few games. He had been putting up points playing with guys like Devereaux and Kilger. To say he's been atrocious is a fairly ignorant statement.

Paging Jim Balsillie.......

Well, as it sits right now, the NHL has forbidden its teams to pay any transfer fees to Russian teams and I would assume they would do much the same if Sweden opted out.

I disagree. I think if you sent the World Junior teams over, you'd get better hockey than if the NHL players went. Some of those NHLers go over and play not to get hurt. In the early 90s, we had some fantastic Olympic hockey with the likes of a young Paul Kariya and Peter Forsberg dueling over Gold.