**grabs popcorn**

Let’s the Tallon Show begin…

Posted by Animal Drew from A Nightmare on Helm Street on 07/08/09 at 07:52 AM ET

Let’s the Tallon Show begin…

Great grammer, eh?  I started with “Let’s watch the show” and tried to change it to “Let the show begin”, add a little Tallon and you get that cluster eff of a sentance.

“I thought you said winning wasn’t important.”
“For me winning isn’t, you do!”

Good day to have 3 different conference calls.  Doesn’t look like much is going to happen.

Posted by Animal Drew from A Nightmare on Helm Street on 07/08/09 at 07:55 AM ET

And now the NHL doesn’t have to not-enforce its own rules. Happy day.

Posted by Nate A from Detroit-ish on 07/08/09 at 09:29 AM ET

A $3 million cap hit for Versteeg would put the Hawks’ payroll at approximately $55.578 million, not counting the salary for the backup goalie.

I’m not sure where Sassone got his $55.578M payroll number, but here’s what the actual numbers are using CapGeek. I took both Adam Burish and Colin Fraser off to get the Hawks down to 13 forwards. Obviously, they can eliminate someone else with a higher salary before the season begins. But they’ll also have to add another defenseman because the list below only includes six of them.

FORWARDS:
Marian Hossa: 5,233,333
Patrick Sharp: 3,900,000
Patrick Kane: 3,725,000
Dave Bolland: 3,375,000
Dustin Byfuglien: 3,000,000
Kris Versteeg: 3,000,000
Jonathan Toews: 2,800,000
John Madden: 2,750,000
Andrew Ladd: 1,550,000
Jack Skille: 1,275,000
Tomas Kopecky: 1,200,000
Troy Brouwer: 1,025,000
Ben Eager: 965,000

DEFENSEMEN
Brian Campbell: 7,142,875
Brent Seabrook: 3,500,000
Cam Barker: 3,083,333
Brent Sopel: 2,333,333
Duncan Keith: 1,475,000
Niklas Hjalmarsson: 643,333

GOALTENDERS
Cristobal Huet: 5,625,000
Antti Niemi: 892,500

BUYOUTS
Curtis Brown: 456,000

ROSTER SIZE: 21
SALARY CAP: 56,800,000
PAYROLL: 58,949,707
CAP ROOM: -2,149,707

The bottom line is, with just 21 players, they’re already $2,149,707 over the cap. They can exceed the cap by up to $4M because of all the bonus money that’s included in the salaries above…but that’ll just screw them even more next year when they would have to include that “overage” in their payroll.

It should be a very interesting summer for Tallon and his crew.

Posted by OlderThanChelios from Grand Rapids on 07/08/09 at 10:56 AM ET

As far as non-drastic solutions go, I would try something like this, ie. find a new home for Sopel, use Aaron Johnson in his place and sign a cheap veteran goaltender to save cap and provide a better security net for Huet than Niemi. It’s barebones with 21 players, but there’s a little cap space for injury call-ups if necessary.

Finally, to avoid Jack Skille feeling restless in the AHL I traded him to the Penguins for a third round pick and a bottle of scotch.

FORWARDS
Marian Hossa   $5,233,333
Patrick Sharp   $3,900,000
Patrick Kane   $3,725,000
Dave Bolland   $3,375,000
Kris Versteeg   $3,083,333
Dustin Byfuglien   $3,000,000
Jonathan Toews   $2,800,000
John Madden   $2,750,000
Andrew Ladd   $1,550,000
Tomas Kopecky   $1,200,000
Troy Brouwer   $1,025,000
Ben Eager   $965,000
Adam Burish   $712,500

DEFENSEMEN
Brian Campbell   $7,142,875
Brent Seabrook   $3,500,000
Cam Barker   $3,083,333
Duncan Keith   $1,475,000
Niklas Hjalmarsson   $643,333
Aaron Johnson   $540,000

GOALTENDERS
Cristobal Huet   $5,625,000
* Veteran goaltender   $500,000

PAYROLL  $56,284,707

Move over, Dale Tallon!

Posted by Moq from Denmark on 07/08/09 at 11:21 AM ET