What was Charles Wang thinking ? And...

I'm sure all of you are wondering like the rest of the hockey world, what was Charles Wang thinking ? I guess, only Charles Wang can answer that, well at least we think he can. I'm sure alot of you, myself included think the Islanders owner has gone insane, but that is for the State of New-York to determine.

According to an Eastern conference GM " There's nothing in the constitution that says you can't sign a player for 15 years'' and there was nothing NHL commissioner, Gary Bettman could of done to stop it.

Deputy commissionner, Bill Daly had this to say ''Clubs are free to make their own decisions within the confines laid out in the collective bargaining agreement and other applicable league rules,'' and added on saying ''Some decisions turn out well, others not so well.''

Also pointed out in the TSN article i quoted, is the fact that the present CBA expires in six years, and nobody knows what the next one will be like, that is the danger, i have to agree. As Bobby Clarke mentions '' If he becomes the goalie they expect him to become, it's a hell of a deal.'' If not, what happens then ? Don't forget that contracts are guaranteed, so the Islanders are stuck with it for as long as DiPietro's career will last or even longer.

The Wang circus continues on the Island.

Lou Lamariello's cap problems are keeping him busy these days, but he says he is not worried as he has until the end of training camp to resolve them. Very true, teams can go over the cap by 10% (48.4m) from June 30th to the end of training camp, then all teams must be cap compliant, of course there is the long term injury factor that comes into play also, but there is a mechanism in place in the CBA for that reason.

It's called the long term injury exemption. What it does, it allows clubs such as the Devils that are close to the Upper Limit (the cap max) to replace an injured player that qualified for the exemption, to go over the cap for the period that the player is out injured, but they cannot go over for the full amount of the unfit player's salary. Exemple: Player x on club B, has a cap hit of 4m and that club is at 42 of the 44 million upper limit, only two million of that salary can go over the limit. Once the unfit player is ready to comeback, you must clear the salary and become cap compliant or the player cannot return until that is done.

For CBA faq's please visit this site to get a better idea.

Note: Now that training camps will be opening across the league, i will be updating on a weekly basis, more if a major trade or event happens between my postings. I will see you all back here on Sunday.