Tomorrow's the big day

We will find out where everybody is going or possibly going. Of course the headline of tomorrow's madness, is what will Mats Sundin do ? One thing for sure, he is not going back to Toronto. There is also two other big names that will be sought after. Marian Hossa and Brian Campbell.

The Salary cap is expected to be set at 56.7 million, but we will know tomorrow, before Gary Bettman sounds the bell for the opening of UFA season. To find out where your team is cap wise, you can visit cap central at Hockeybuzz.com. Speaking of the cap, Bob McKenzie from TSN has a good piece on it's going to work this year contrary to the previous three years.

I will be looking forward to tomorrow for sure.

A 56.7 million dollar cap ?

The League will be recording an another hike in revenu which will likely raise the salary cap for 2008-09, to certain estimations around 54 million. Don’t forget that last year, the NHLPA used the 5 percent option in the CBA to hike it to 50.3 million. If the Association should do it again this year, this will mean that we will have a 56.7 million cap, with a minimum of 40.7 million as the cap floor.

During the off-season, teams can exceed the cap by 10 % of the limit, so if the cap limit for next season is 56.7 million, teams can go as high as 62.370 million, from July 1^st til the last day of training camp.

So let’s say the limit is 56.7 million next season, here is an estimated look at what the Gm’s have to work with.

Eastern Conference

Team	Est cap hit hit 08-09	Space available
Boston	48,311,667	8,388,333
Buffalo	39,706,224	16,993,776
Montreal	37,418,633	19,281,367
Ottawa	41,438,996	15,261,004
Toronto	43,929,167	12,770,833
Avg/Team	42,160,937	14,539,063
New Jersey	41,751,073	14,948,927
Islanders	35,259,067	21,440,933
Rangers	42,424,260	14,275,740
Philadelphia*	49,868,333	6,831,667
Pittsburgh	34,557,567	22,142,433
Avg/Team	40,772,060	15,927,940
Atlanta	36,309,676	20,390,324
Florida	40,962,500	15,737,500
Carolina	39,825,000	16,875,000
Tampa Bay	37,378,056	19,321,944
Washington	39,198,878	17,501,122
Avg/Team	38,734,822	17,965,178

Western Conference

Team	Est cap hit hit 08-09	Space available
Chicago	49,247,087	7,452,913
Columbus	28,040,833	28,659,167
Detroit	40,122,778	16,577,222
Nashville	39,041,087	17,658,913
St-Louis	44,615,833	12,084,167
Avg/Team	40,213,524	16,486,476
Calgary	47,598,333	9,101,667
Colorado	30,326,667	26,373,333
Edmonton	44,390,053	12,309,947
Minnesota	37,455,500	19,244,500
Vancouver	35,700,000	21,000,000
Avg/Team	39,094,111	17,605,889
Anaheim	53,026,667	3,673,333
Los Angeles	$37,719,617.00	18,980,383
Phoenix	35,231,667	21,468,333
Dallas	48,573,889	8,126,111
San Jose	41,779,167	14,920,833
Avg/Team	43,266,201	13,433,799

If you need explanations, go visit NHLSCAP.COM

Eighty-five Games later

Yes folks, that’s what it took the league to find a champion in 2008. 85 games, 4 rounds and 15 playoff series. The New Stanley cup Champions played a total of 22 games to win the magic 16.

In the eighty-five games, a total of 458 goals, which comes up to an average of 5.39 per game. Each playoff series took an average of 5.67 games to play.

Round by Round breakdown

Round 1

8 Series - 48 games and 258 goals scored (5.37 per game)

· 3 ----------- 7 game series

· 3 ------------6 game series

· 1-------------5 game series

· 1-------------4 game series

Round 2

4 Series – 20 games and 117 goals scored (5.85 per game)

· 1-----------6 game series

· 2-----------5 game series

· 1-----------4 game series

Round 3

2 Series – 11 games and 56 goals scored (5.09 per game)

· 1-------5 game series

· 1-------6 game series

The Stanley cup Final

1 Series – 6 games and 27 goals (4.50 per game )

Congratulations to the Detroit Red Wings, 2008 Stanley cup Champions