from Pierre LeBrun of ESPN,

The parity continues to drive home the point that the league is more and more resembling the NFL in that way.

That's what you get in a salary-cap system.

With that, though, I wonder how long it's going to take for more and more people in hockey to stop freaking out when it comes to pending unrestricted free agents.

In football, players come and go every offseason, but it seems there isn’t that same narrow focus on making sure pending free agents are either re-signed midseason or are traded for assets. They often fulfill their contracts and move on, and it’s not the end of the world. They get replaced.

My point, and yes, I do have one, is that cap space is in itself an asset. If Ben Bishop helps the Tampa Bay Lightning to another long playoff run, or even a Cup, and then walks away July 1 for nothing, well, it wasn’t nothing. First, the Bolts will have maximized his impact contractually, and secondly, Tampa recoups $6 million in space when he leaves, which the Bolts can then use on raises for restricted free agents Tyler Johnson, Ondrej Palat and Jonathan Drouin.

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