from Fluto Shinzawa of the Boston Globe,

Future points to salary retention

The Sabres have assets, including power forward Chris Stewart, who is on the Bruins’ wish list. Stewart, Drew Stafford, and Torrey Mitchell, all unrestricted at season’s end, could fill needs for teams in the playoff hunt. But Buffalo’s most significant advantage is its room under the cap. According to www.capgeek.com, Buffalo has the league’s third-lowest payroll. This leaves GM Tim Murray plenty of space to retain salary in any trade. For some teams approaching the ceiling, including the Bruins, salary retention would be required because they would not otherwise have space to bring on acquisitions without sending money the other way. This will allow Murray to ask for a premium in return.

Dealing with the new system

Tampa Bay, Pittsburgh, Anaheim, and Vancouver entered this weekend as the top clubs in their respective conferences. Of the four teams, only Pittsburgh has long-term, back-diving contracts (Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin) that the current collective bargaining agreement has stricken from GMs’ toolboxes. The Lightning, Ducks, and Canucks are operating without the benefit of any pre-lockout contracts, which lower a club’s overall cap hit. Chicago (Duncan Keith, Marian Hossa) and Los Angeles (Jeff Carter, Mike Richards, Jonathan Quick) are close to the upper limit. They’d be in even bigger cap trouble if they didn’t have these back-diving contracts lessening their cap burden.

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