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The Calgary Flames will make locking up star forward Jarome Iginla their top priority.
INDEPTH: BACK
ON ICE THE CANADIAN TEAMS
The GMs of the six Canadian teams have some tough choices as the free agency frenzy looms
CBC Sports Online | Last updated July 22, 2005
Now that the NHL and Players' Association have ratified the new collective bargaining agreement, general mangers now face some tough choices as they begin the mad scramble to finalize their rosters for the 2005-06 campaign.
A team-by-team salary cap with a payroll of range of $21.5 million to $39 million US is expected to lead to a massive rush of free-agency activity, as some clubs will be forced to restructure their payroll in order to fit under the salary cap.
Under the terms of the new CBA, no player can earn more than 20 per cent of the team cap - for the 2005-06 season, this means no player can earn more than $7.4 million.
Teams will be able to buy players out of their contracts at two-thirds of their value if they need help to fit under the cap. Clubs, however, won't be able to re-sign those players.
CBC Sports Online takes an in-depth look at the six Canadian NHL teams and what sort of moves they will make over the ensuing weeks.
1. Calgary Flames
2. Edmonton Oilers
3. Montreal Canadiens
4. Ottawa Senators
5. Toronto Maple Leafs
6. Vancouver Canucks
CALGARY FLAMES
Players under contract: Shean
Donovan, Toni Lydman, Steve Montador, Marcus Nilson, Robyn Regehr,
Byron Ritchie, Chris Simon, Rhett Warrener, Jason Wiemer, Stephane
Yelle.
Committed payroll for 2005-06 (with 24% rollback):
$12,863,000.
Restricted Free Agents: Chris Clark, Anders Eriksson,
Andrew Ference, Jarome Iginla, Miikka Kiprusoff, Chuck Kobasew, Daymond
Langkow, Jordan Leopold, Matthew Lombardi, Ville Nieminen, Steve Reinprecht.
Unrestricted Free Agents: Dean McAmmond, Dave Lowry.
Potential moves: Calgary is in good shape. With the
24 per cent rollback, the Flames have just over $26 million of room
under the new salary cap. Obviously, wrapping up leading scorer Jarome
Iginla and netminder Miikka Kiprusoff, both restricted free agents,
is their top priority. Also, look for the Flames to test the free-agent
market and sign a veteran defenceman.
Player buyouts: None
Free-agent signings: Tony Amonte (RW), Darren McCarty
(RW)
Leaving town: Martin Gelinas (LW), Mike Commodore
(D)
EDMONTON OILERS
Players under contract: Marc-Andre
Bergeron, Ty Conklin, Cory Cross, Radek Dvorak, Todd Harvey, Georges
Laraque, Ethan Moreau, Fernando Pisani, Alexei Semenov, Jason Smith,
Steve Staios.
Committed payroll for 2005-06 (with 24% rollback):
$12,996,000.
Restricted Free Agents: Ales Hemsky, Shawn Horcoff,
Jussi Markkanen, Marty Reasoner, Ryan Smyth, Jarret Stoll, Raffi Torres,
Mike York.
Unrestricted Free Agents: Scott Ferguson, Igor Ulanov.
Potential moves: With only Ty Conklin to rely on,
the Oilers might go shopping for a veteran goalie. The Oilers could
go after unrestricted free agent Curtis Joseph, who at 38 would provide
immeasurable support for Conklin. Edmonton has plenty of room under
the cap, so look for them to re-sign key restricted free agents Ryan
Smyth, Eric Brewer, Raffi Torres and Mike York.
Player buyouts: None
Trade deals: Chris Pronger (D) from St. Louis
Free-agent signings:
Leaving town: Brad Isbister (LW/RW), Eric Brewer
(D), Doug Lynch (D), Jeff Woywitka (D)
MONTREAL CANADIENS
Players under contract: Steve
Begin, Radek Bonk, Patrice Brisebois, Cristobal Huet, Craig Rivet,
Sheldon Souray, Niklas Sundstrom, Richard Zednik.
Committed payroll for 2005-06 (with 24% rollback):
$14,478,000.
Restricted Free Agents: Francis Boullion, Jan Bulis,
Pierre Dagenais, Marcel Hossa, Saku Koivu, Mike Komisarek, Andrei
Markov, Mike Ribeiro, Michael Ryder, Jose Theodore, Jason Ward.
Unrestricted Free Agents: Jim Dowd, Alexei Kovalev,
Yanic Perreault.
Potential moves: Look for the Habs to buy out 34-year-old
defenceman Patrice Brisebois ($3.42 million) in order to free up some
cap space. That extra cap room will be put to good use by Montreal
as they try to re-sign restricted free agent goalie Jose Theodore.
Player buyouts: Decline team options on Patrice Brisebois
and Gavin Morgan.
Free-agent signings: Peter Vandermeer (LW)
OTTAWA SENATORS
Players under contract: Daniel
Alfredsson, Zdeno Chara, Dominik Hasek, Chris Phillips, Brian Pothier,
Wade Redden, Peter Schaefer, Bryan Smolinski, Vaclav Varada, Greg
de Vries.
Committed payroll for 2005-06 (with 24% rollback):
$23,625,000.
Restricted Free Agents: Mike Fisher, Martin Havlat,
Marian Hossa, Josh Langfeld, Chris Neil, Martin Prusek, Jason Spezza,
Antoine Vermette.
Unrestricted Free Agents: Peter Bondra, Curtis Leschyshyn,
Todd Simpson, Shaun Van Allen, Rob Ray.
Potential moves: The Senators have the core of their
team locked up, although it's expected they'll buy out veteran defenceman
Greg de Vries $2.28 million). Still, with only $15 million of room
under the cap, Ottawa needs to make some hard decisions regarding
its restricted free agents (Marian Hossa, Martin Havlat, Mike Fisher,
Todd White and Jason Spezza) and unrestricted free agent Peter Bondra.
Player buyouts:
Free-agent signings:
Leaving town: Todd White (D)
TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS
Players under contract: Ed
Belfour, Tomas Kaberle, Ken Klee, Bryan McCabe, Owen Nolan, Matt Stajan,
Mats Sundin, Darcy Tucker.
Committed payroll for 2005-06 (with 24% rollback):
$27,067,000.
Restricted Free Agents: Nik Antropov, Wade Belak,
Aki Berg, Chad Kilger, Karel Pilar, Nathan Perrott, Alexei Ponikarovsky.
Unrestricted Free Agents: Drake Berehowsky, Tie Domi,
Ron Francis, Trevor Kidd, Brian Leetch, Bryan Marchment, Alexander
Mogilny.
Potential moves: With only $12 million of room under
the cap, the Leafs have some tough decisions to make. Complicating
matters is the Owen Nolan situation. Nolan underwent knee surgery,
but if he is deemed injured by the league, the Leafs will not be able
to buy him out without having it count against the cap. Therefore,
if Toronto decides to buy Nolan out once he is deemed ready to play,
most of his 2005-06 salary ($5.6 million) would still count against
the cap. It's unlikely the Leafs will make a major free-agent signing.
Player buyouts: None
Trade deals: Jeff O'Neil (RW/LW) from Carolina
Free-agent signings:
Leaving town: Joe Nieuwendyk (C), Gary Roberts (LW)
VANCOUVER CANUCKS
Players under contract: Johnathan
Aitken, Alex Auld, Todd Bertuzzi, Jeff Heerema, Ed Jovanovski, Trevor
Linden.
Committed payroll for 2005-06 (with 24% rollback):
$11,805,000.
Restricted Free Agents: Bryan Allen, Artem Chubarov,
Dan Cloutier, Matt Cooke, Jason King, Brendan Morrison, Mattias Ohlund,
Brandon Reid, Jarkko Ruutu, Sami Salo, Daniel Sedin, Henrik Sedin,
Brent Sopel.
Unrestricted Free Agents: Magnus Arvedson, Marc Bergevin,
Johan Hedberg, Mike Keane, Mats Lindgren, Brad May, Markus Naslund,
Jaroslav Obsut, Martin Rucinsky.
Potential moves: With just over $27 million of available
space under the cap, Vancouver has a lof of room to operate. Signing
franchise player and team captain Markus Naslund (an unrestricted
free agent) will be at the top of Vancouver's list. Speculation that
Todd Bertuzzi ($5.2 million contract) will be bought out seems premature,
as the Canucks would be foolish to let the talented 30-year-old leave
without at least getting something for him.
Player buyouts: None
Free-agent signings:
Leaving town: Marek Malik (D)
* All figures in US dollars. The new league minimum salary is $450,000, slightly changing each team's payroll structure.
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