Sunday, July 08, 2007

What, you mean he WON'T take the minimum just to play in New York?

Our old pal Larry Brooks must be beside himself this morning. Henrik Lundqvist is getting pinched by the salary cap (not to mention the the $14.4 million in cap room eaten up by the two new shiny toys) and will be taken to arbitration so as to "buy time," in Ol' Lar's words, for resident genius Glen Sather to "make roster moves."

Yeah, that's a way to go...go cheap on your franchise goaltender, pay him half of what he's worth this year on a one-year arbitration deal, then try to negotiate a long-term contract with him . . . and Lar, who must be the keeper of the checkbook inventory for Sather, is even talking in terms of Sheldon Souray as a free-agent signing. That signing -- for a defenseman who tied for the league lead in power play scoring among defensemen but was a -28 for the year* -- should make Lundqvist feel truly loved.

That second helping of $7-million center is looking like it might cause a case of indigestion in New York before too long.




* No full-time Caps defenseman was worse than -14.

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