So not two days ago I made a couple of predicitons for this week leading up to free agency.

I then predict he’s going to throw 4 mil a piece at Pitkanen and Jokinen, and 2.5 at Cole and 1.0 at LaRose… then throwing no more then 750k at Joslin (RFA)

So I knew POS Pitkanen would make 4 mill and he ended up with 4.5 x 3 years, and LaRose gets 1.7 cap hit over two. Sure I will take the hit for being a bit conservative on the money but honestly, who the hell gives Pitkanen 4.5 million!!! WTF! The other money for LaRose no biggie. He’s not worth that much right now (he can certainly convince me otherwise this year and I surely hope he does), but I do like him. Yet this signing, and possibly the extra money in the Joni signing is their attempt at bringing themselves closer to that salary floor. Which is a bad sign for the loyal Caniacs out there.The other Signing was Patrick Dwyer for 625K x 2 years. In no way is this a bad signing. The guy skates hard he surprises you at times. Like I said in my grading of him, I would like to see him put in 12-15 goals a year. Will he do it? Prolly not but at 625K I can live with him.

What this now brings about is a bad situation for Hurricanes fans. We stare in the face another off season where all they do is try and re-sign their own guys and then look at old Canes retreads 1st and then see what’s left over for the rest of the lineup. It hasn’t worked in the last few years and it won’t work now. The other thing that is starting to alarm me is the sheer volume at which the cap has been increasing the last few years. It’s now up to 64.3 million with a floor at 48 million. That’s a floor just a tick below what the CAP was when we came back from the lock out. I don’t like this trend and I don’t like what it means for the mid and small market teams. I have said many time that any owner with a team in the NHL should be able to and should try to put a team on the ice that has 54-58 mil for this cap structure at VERY least. No one else is going to compete at the upper levels. Sure there may be a team scraping by the cap that will show life but they won’t be in that upper echelon. Also, while I make that number value, it also has to be done smartly. Which of course deletes you Rangers from this talk, b/c you NEVER spend money intelligently.

We very well could be headed for disaster in the NHL and here in Carolina. The floor goes up and people like Karmanos and GM Rutherford will cry poverty that they have no money. That’s bullshit and we all know it. Spend the money and you will get the attendance. Don’t spend it and don’t get anyone else in here who can score goals and your attendance will continue to go down. Sure I loved you brought us a cup. But your cushion of patience is out with me. I want to be EXCITED by someone you are bringing in. I don’t want to see Stephane Yelle types in here again. It’s cheap and it’s old. Show me the players and I will show you I am happy, with my dollar. Give it another half ass attempt at a roster this year and I will seriously re-think those 4 full season tickets I have been buying for 10 years now.

Free agency starts Friday… EASILY my favorite time for hockey. Right up there with the trade deadline. Will the Canes be active on the first weekend? Likely not. Look for 1 signing on Friday and it will be one of the guys we already have. I would say at most we re-sign a guy from this years team and sign one new player. Any more then that and I will be surprised as hell.

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