- Wes Gilbertson of the Calgary Sun: Flames CEO Ken King said they won’t be laying off people, but some will face cuts.
“The details of the plan are largely private, but I can tell you that the salary and work-requirement cuts are on an ascending level, meaning that those at the executive level will face the largest cuts and then that moves down through the group. Those at a certain level will not be affected at all.”
- Bruce Garrioch via twitter: Jason Spezza insured all 3 years of his contract, probably spending about $50,000 a month for insurance.
- Howard Berger of Berger Bytes: From a Maple Leafs Eastern Conference rival,
“From my standpoint, Brian is poised to make at least one prime acquisition… possibly two,” said the fellow executive. “I think – like many of us – he is waiting to see the lay of the land once a new Collective Bargaining Agreement is in place. He’s been very involved in trying to improve his goaltending and I can tell you that he’s determined to add a big player up front. I’ll be quite surprised, as will many of my colleagues, if he goes into the next hockey season without a significant upgrade.”
- Damien Cox via twitter: The owners last offer may have included a clause in which teams would carry the full salary cap hit of a contract, even if the player retired. Long contracts that are front loaded would be affected. Contracts like Ilya Kovalchuk’s where he’ll only get $10 million in the last 5 seasons and will be 42 years old when it’s over. It’s speculated that he would retired after 10 years of his 15 year contract. Marian Hossa, Henrik Zetterberg, and Roberto Luongo have similar styled contracts.
