- Dave Isaac of the Courier-Post: The Flyers aren’t out of the woods with regards to their cap situation according to GM Ron Hextall.
“Our cap is still not totally cleaned up,” Hextall said last Saturday, “but we’re a lot closer now.”
The Flyers are about $4.11 million under the salary cap, with RFA defenseman Michael Del Zotto still left to sign. The Flyers can go over the $71.4 million cap ceiling in the offseason by 10 percent, but Hextall doesn’t want to do that.
“Otherwise, we’re back in the situation we’re in,” Hextall said Wednesday. “We don’t want to be over the cap and we’re not going to sign someone to put us over. I certainly don’t want to commit to someone that is gonna put us in a situation to have to move a young player in a year.”
Contract talks with Del Zotto are moving slowly. Neither side doesn’t really want to go to arbitration.
- Randy Sportak of the Calgary Sun: Flames GM Brad Treliving on talk of offer sheets.
“It’s like the fish story,” Flames GM Brad Treliving said Thursday. “He was six pounds when you had him on the line but then he snapped off. When you get around the campfire and having a cold one, it was 60 pounds. These stories can sometimes grow.
“It’s a little bit of the story out there, but nobody has done an offer sheet yet, so it’s not a big story, yet. But, in terms of your planning, you have to be prepared for it.”
The threat of someone offer sheeting Dougie Hamilton didn’t force the Flames to do a deal.
“Did anybody come to me and say, ‘I’m gonna offer sheet him’? No. I don’t think it was likely, because of our cap situation. They weren’t going to get the player, and that’s the main reason you use an offer sheet,” Treliving said.
“Once Dougie became our property, we were in a situation with lots of flexibility and people knew we’d be matching it. You want to take care of business quickly, but we didn’t rush.”
The Flames are of what could happen next summer with potentially Sean Monahan and Johnny Gaudreau offer sheet eligible.