from Larry Brooks of the NY Post,

It’s about money outside of the system, Canceler-in-Chief Gary Bettman and deputy Bill (The Hill) Daly maintain in turning a studied blind eye to the pain 10 NHL teams will endure trying to comply with the cap without a mechanism to ease compliance.

For example, the Flyers project to having $2.5 million of space to fill seven spots (about $7.5 million to fill eight spots if Chris Pronger is on long-term-inactivity); the Canucks project to having $4.6 million to fill 10 roster spots; the Canadiens would already be over the cap with seven spots unfilled; the Penguins would have $7.4 million to fill eight spots; the Bruins would be in big trouble; and the small-market Lightning would have $2.5 million to fill eight spots.

The Rangers would be in a very tight spot themselves — about $2.7 million to sign seven players — if forced to accommodate Wade Redden’s cap hit even if the defenseman is on the AHL roster on a contract signed under the expired CBA.

These teams would be forced to proceed with radical surgery next summer.

But is it about money? Or is it rather about genetic engineering; about the league using this opportunity to divert players from big market franchises onto small market teams in less desirable situations who own scads of cap space?

There’s only one way to find out. And that is for the NHLPA — whose interests coincide with the big market franchises — to propose a sum-zero amnesty buyout program when the league and players reconvene at some point this week in an attempt to nail down an agreement.

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