Lundqvist is awarded $4.25 million in arbitration / More

A serious upgrade from the $817,000 he made last year. It is a 1-year deal. People were expecting him to get Cam Ward numbers ($2.66 million). And rightfully so. Ward won a Stanley Cup and Lundqvist has not gone past round 2 of the playoffs.
So where does this put the Rangers under the salary cap? About $4 million. Shanahan's low-based signing yesterday (with major incentives) has helped the Rangers stay under the cap, with Sean Avery and Marcel Hossa left to sign.
The real problem salary-wise will come for New York next summer, if Shanahan doesn't decide to retire and the Rangers have to re-negotiate with Lundqvist again. But the Rangers are going for the Cup this year and seem willing to spend right up to the cap.

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Big suprise...Alexei Yashin is not happy with any offers being presented to him lately. Great comments from his agent Mark Gandler today: ''We are still talking to some teams. So far the offers we have received we are not happy with,'' Gandler said in an interview with CKNW Radio in Vancouver. ''If we are not going to get what we are looking for than he (Yashin) will definitely go to Russia.'' (Ah, he's in Vancouver. No wonder why there was Yashin-to-Vancouver rumors). ''I'm looking at players who are older and less productive and they are getting significant salaries. He just does not want to be the whipping boy. That's just not going to happen.''

Well, Alex, you are a $4 million player, and if you can't except a massive pay cut, then don't let the door hit your ass on the way out of North America.

Yashin's stats paint the picture of his worth. 27 points in 48 career playoff games. ZERO points in 5 playoff games with the Islanders this past season. Let him him go back to Russia.


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