Red Wings over the cap but have time to get under
Craig Custance of The Athletic: Dylan Larkin‘s new deal with the Detroit Red Wings puts them over the salary cap by an estimated $1 million according to GM Ken Holland.
“We’re very tight,” Holland said on Friday of the cap situation. “With this deal, we’re probably a dribble over. Not a lot, but we’re over. We’re going to have to make some decisions moving forward.”
The Wings can gain some cap relief by sending Martin Frk and Luke Witkowski to the minors, but it wouldn’t be much of a savings.
There is also the future of Henrik Zetterberg that could provide the cap savings they need, and more, if they put him on the LTIR. Zetterberg wouldn’t retire but could join Johan Franzen on the LTIR going forward.
If Zetterberg is able to play at the start of the season, it would hurt the chances of Filip Zadina making the team out of camp. Zadina is AHL eligible. The Wings are hoping that Michael Rasmussen can make the team, if not, he’ll be headed by junior.
Likely Cullen’s last season
Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Pittsburgh Penguins forward Matt Cullen will be 42-years old in November and knows it’s likely his last season in the NHL.
“I’m definitely going into thinking that this is probably it,” Cullen told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette inside his rural Minnesota home on Tuesday afternoon. “I’m not going to formally announce anything before the season starts, but I think this probably is it.”
Cullen signed a one-year deal this offseason after spending one season with the Minnesota Wild. At the trade deadline last year, the Penguins may had been close to acquiring Cullen from the Wild.
“I think it was very close,” Cullen said. “I don’t know the inner-workings of everything, but from what I understand, after the fact, was that it was awfully close.”