Timing is everything.
Carlson not only had a great season in his walk year, he happened to be coming up on UFA status in a year when the other RHD UFA's were relatively few, with none having anywhere near his pedigree.
Updating my post about the salary cap, the team now has 14 players officially on board with a total cap hit of $65.4 million, leaving them with $14.1 million and 8 players to sign. Wilson is going to get somewhere between $3 million and $4 million in whatever contract he signs, I believe -- probably closer to $4 million. Copley figures to be the backup goalie to start the season, with a $650,000 cap hit. That gets us up to 16 players, needing at least 6 more to fill out the roster, and a little under $10 million of space. That isn't a heck of a lot of room. I'm hoping Bowey can be given a bridge contract of about $1.3 million for next year. That's 17 players, 5 to go, with maybe as much as $8.5 million left. If Kempny were to get, say, $2 million, that would leave $6.5 million for 4 players: 3 forwards and a swing defenseman. And the team is going to want a bit of cap room available for injury callups during the year. It is easy to see that guys like Beagle and Smith-Pelly get squeezed out in favor of young guys. Maybe a Chaisson can be resigned if he agrees to something like, say, an $800,000 contract. The seventh defenseman is probably going to be a Chorney type, cheap but somewhat veteran. I don't see how Orpik will be that guy, but that's me. Remember, he's a free agent getting buyout money, so his services probably won't be too expensive but he won't come dirt-cheap (close to minimum salary) either.
