they just leaked that to save him a little embarrassment, I'm sure he's fine.

so he is finally getting that sandy vag looked at, huh?

Zuccarello not coming back to NY.

torn Labium's must suck. Gabby's poor meat curtains.

Good decision by Zucc, the Rangers are a sinking ship. Better get out while he still can

Bruins Gm saying that Thomas may not be back next yr.

http://espn.go.com/boston/nhl/story/...2012-13-season

lol Rangers

and who is this "Justin Schultz" character? Seems to be the hot ticket but I'm not sure we have room for another Wisconsin Badger on the roster

Tuukka ships the 2012-2013 Vezina. Book it.

haha, i dont really buy that hes going to leave five million on the table when he hasnt been collecting big nhl checks his whole career. Also, if your going to take a season off at that age, you might as well retire. Im sure all the old guys feel exhausted after an nhl season and i bet hes just emotionally venting.

We'll take him down in dc

Almost all speculation on this is that both of his parents are in very poor health.

Blues close to signing 2010 1st rounder Vladimir Tarasenko? (bonus lol @ typo in headline)

He produced in the Kontinental Hockey League this season, scoring 23 goals and 24 assists in 54 games split between HC Sibir and SKA St. Petersburg.

sounds pretty good. and the Blues system looking pretty nice with Jaden Schwartz, Ty Rattie, Jake Allen, Philip McRae, Ian Cole, etc to go along with their current young core. maybe they'll be back again in the mix next year.

other interesting prospect news that many have already probably heard, but some might not have is Ducks prospect D Justin Schultz set to become a UFA at just 21yo.

Next to New Jersey's Zach Parise and Nashville's Ryan Suter, the soon-to-be 22-year-old from West Kelowna, B.C., may be the most sought after NHL free agent.

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=396872

also read that the Ducks were MAD and have claimed the Leafs have tampered with him before he has become an UFA (though it might be through contact with former college and Duck teammate Jake Gardiner, rather than with Burke/Nonis/whoever), but who knows given that Burke was the GM there, and i believe was still around when Gardiner & Schultz were draft by Anaheim in 2008.

could be interesting, but will probably come to nothing, just like the last tampering charges against the TML...

and another offseason topic, one that i probably shouldn't get into until the SCF is over seeing as how T is the biggest CBA guy around here iirc, is one of the next year's salary cap. big Bob reported that if the CBA structure doesn't change, the ceiling will move to $70.3m. but as we all know, the CBA structure probably will change. to what? who knows...

recent CBA battles saw the following outcomes in revenue splits.

NFL: ~50/50
NBA: ~51.15% players
MLB: 50/50?

could be wrong about the MLB one, couldn't really find anything specific on that. and as with the NHL split, there are variables that make them inexact / subject to change, etc. right now the NHL is currently...

NHL: The players' share will be 54% to the extent League revenues in any year are below $2.2 billion; 55% when League revenues are between $2.2 billion and $2.4 billion; 56% when League revenues are between $2.4 billion and $2.7 billion, and 57% when League revenues in any year exceed $2.7 billion.

big Bob says next year that'd mean a ceiling of $70.3m/team.

Hypothetical fun

Throwing out those fun-killing “it could all change completely” for a second, Cap Geek breaks down how much cap space each team would have at this moment if the ceiling indeed goes to $70.3 million.

For the fun of it, here are the five teams with the lowest amounts of would-be space:

5. Buffalo Sabres: $11.76 million in cap space (based on 19-player roster)
4. Boston Bruins: $11.27M (18)
3. Pittsburgh Penguins: $10.73M (18)
2. Philadelphia Flyers: $9.08M (20)
1. Chicago Blackhawks: $8.81M (22)

Conversely, here are the five teams that would have the most space remaining:

1. Colorado Avalanche: $46.84M (9)
2. Nashville Predators:: $38.15M (12)
3. Phoenix Coyotes: $35.44M (17)
4. St. Louis Blues: $34.04M (16)
5. Winnipeg Jets: $33.43M (14)

i think the owners will battle the players until they lower their cut to 50-52%, in line with where the other leagues are. so if i'm right, and that's where the split ends up, the cap ceiling will be somewhere closer to $65.09m (50% for the players) to 67.7m (52% for the players).

but then again, i also wouldn't be stunned to see some agreement reached where the ceiling is raised, and the floor is lowered slightly. not sure if some of the teams at the bottom can keep up with spending like this, and that might be one of the fights (or perhaps a luxury tax threshold combined with increased revenue sharing for the have-nots). and last CBA note, apparently Donald Fehr doesn't sound too interested in the idea of rollbacks on existing contracts for the players this time around. he intimated agreeing to the 24% rollback without running it past the PA as a whole was why the last guy lost his job, and that the players won't be making those kind of sacrifices again.

but in any case, i'd probably really like to be one of the big UFA's this summer, or any UFA really. even the "capped out" teams could theoretically be in a position to toss a $7.5m/year offer to Suter, Parise, or whoever without much, if any, maneuvering.

lol Thomas

what a drooling idiot

lol, i guess timmeh reads zero hedge

Tim Thomas confirmed not playing next year via facebook

O/U on number of FB shares that TT owns?

Instead of just posting a link this time, he actually made a statement today.

(I removed a couple links from this...)

Im honestly pretty shocked. Its not like hes poor, but its not like hes cashed a lot of big nhl checks either and you only have a finite period where your able to make that much as a hockey player. five million is just a lot for him to turn down. If his parents are close to death though, part of me can admire his decision though. Pretty tough spot.

http://capgeek.com/players/display.php?id=236

He'd get 3m next year, not 5. And he's made 20m in the past 6 yrs. At some point, some ppl have made enough money in their life that there are more important things. I say good for him.

Can someone with better knowledge of the cap system explain why the Bruins still have to carry the full $5m cap hit if Thomas doesn't play a single game? Can't they just cut him and get SOME relief?

He signed his contract after his 35th birthday, so his cap hit counts no matter what happens.