Tuesday, October 03, 2006

LAMORIELLO TO GET RELIEF/OUT-SMARTS EVERYONE

It looks as though the league will relieve Lou Lamoriello of injured Alexander Mogilny's salary as well. This was expected. Lou has now saved about $7.1 million in the last few days, ridding himself of Vladimir Malakhov's salary as well on Sunday.
This is stirring controversy with other general managers, as they also will no doubt be pushing the limits with any player who is injured longterm. As TSN puts it:
The GM's unhappiness, or outrage if you will, is focused on what will unfold today when the Devils submit their final 23-man roster with the league. It is fully expected forward Alexander Mogilny will be listed as a Long-Term Injury, which if approved by the league will allow the Devils to spend over the $44 million salary cap by the amount of Mogilny's contract ($3.5 million) for as long as he remains on LTI.
So why all the fuss?
The new CBA included a clause that basically said any 35 and over player who signs a multi-year contract will count against the team's salary cap even if he retires or plays in the minors. It is why the Tampa Bay Lightning have to account for retired Dave Andreychuk's salary. Ditto for the New York Islanders with retired goalie cum GM Garth Snow and the Toronto Maple Leafs with the retired Tie Domi.
A GM stated that Lou is "opening a can of worms" and that "this is going to get ugly."
Lamoriello is thinking:
The CBA clearly spells out that a 35 and over player has to count against the cap even if he's retired, playing in the minors or on injured reserve, but it doesn't specifically say anything about Long-Term Injury status. Conversely, the CBA clause on Long-Term Injury doesn't say anything about precluding 35 and over players from getting LTI.

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home

Waiting For Stanley was created in June 2006.