The figures in the image are from NHLNumbers.com, who do a hell of a job.
I am no capologist by any stretch, so what I am about to say can either be corrected or taken with somewhat of a grain of salt. The salaries next to each players' names represent the dollars from this season and next season. The total amount is at the bottom.
Yes, Gillis has a daunting task ahead of him. 7 of the 12 forwards from this season are locked up. 4 of our top 6 defencemen are signed. Luongo, as I mentioned, is not going anywhere, so the question now is: "who will be the backup?" My guess is Jason Labarbera is going to walk, leaving the backup role to Cory Schneider or, a distant possibility, Curtis Sanford. The Canucks won't lose much cap space there.
On defence, we know Mattias Ohlund and his $3.5 million salary is hitting the road. What is Shane O'Brien going to ask for as an RFA? Does Gillis keep Ossi Vaananen around as a 6th or 7th d-man at $1 million per season?
Rumors will now run rampant that the Canucks will chase Jay Bouwmeester and his potential new $7 million price tag. Can they afford that?
Well, they will have to cost cut not only on the 5t or 6th defenceman for that, but also up front.
The Sedins' Swedish agent Claes Elefalk is saying his clients will get $7 million per season come July 1st. Some optimists say the Twins will take around $6 million to stay in Vancouver because they love it here. Many call this statement "posturing" to which I would have to agree with.
I'll take the middle road ($6.5 million). So let's start doing rough math.
Assuming the NHL cap allowance stays the same at $56.7 million and the $33.283 million total is correct at the bottom of the graphic:
33.283 + 13.0 (Sedins' combined new salary) = 46
There's 9 of 12 forwards signed (and the core of the team intact) with just over $10 million left.
-If Bouwmeester gets signed at the $7 million tag, the Canucks will only have $3 million left to sign 3 more forwards and at least 1 d-man. This is just not going to happen unless the Twins sign for less or not at all. Or, maybe Gillis can sign Wellwood, Pyatt, etc for cheap rates (or a discount in Pyatt's case.)
It seems to me that if the Twins sign for the $6.5 I proposed, then Gillis can shore up his defence at a reasonable rate, as in, not paying any of the missing pieces on defence $3.0 million, then he can spend up to $8 million on the forwards he re-signs or brings in.
Can't forget that Michael Grabner and Cody Hodgson may make the team this year. If not (or not on a full time basis) they sign 2-way contracts, easing the cap issue.
Truth is, I have no damned clue what our GM intends to do. I'm just throwing up numbers and passing speculation.
Now, for your drooling pleasure, here is a list of notable potential free agents this summer via Spector's Blog.
ANAHEIM DUCKS: Francois Beauchemin, Bret Hedican, Rob Niedermayer, Scott Niedermayer,
ATLANTA THRASHERS: Eric Perrin, Marty Reasoner.
BOSTON BRUINS: PJ Axelsson, Manny Fernandez, Steve Montador, Mark Recchi, Tim Thomas, Stephane Yelle.
BUFFALO SABRES: Maxim Afinogenov, Dominic Moore, Teppo Numminen, Andrew Peters, Jaroslav Spacek, Mikael Tellqvist.
CAROLINA HURRICANES: Erik Cole, Chad LaRose, Dennis Seidenberg.
CALGARY FLAMES: Adrian Aucoin, Todd Bertuzzi, Mike Cammalleri, Jordan Leopold, David Moss.
CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS: Martin Havlat, Nikolai Khabibulin, Samuel Pahlsson.
COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS: Christian Backman, Wade Dubielewicz, Chris Gratton, Manny Malholtra, Michael Peca.
COLORADO AVALANCHE: Tyler Arnason, Ian Laperriere, Andrew Raycroft, Joe Sakic.
DALLAS STARS: Steve Begin, Jere Lehtinen, Brendan Morrison, Mark Parrish, Darryl Sydor, Sergei Zubov.
DETROIT RED WINGS: Chris Chelios, Ty Conklin, Johan Franzen, Marian Hossa, Mikael Samuelsson,
EDMONTON OILERS: Ales Kotalik, Dwayne Roloson.
FLORIDA PANTHERS: Craig Anderson, Jay Bouwmeester, Nick Boynton, Radek Dvorak,Karlis Skrastins,Richard Zednik.
LOS ANGELES KINGS: Derek Armstrong, Kyle Calder, Denis Gauthier.
MINNESOTA WILD: Marc-Andre Bergeron, Kurtis Foster, Marian Gaborik, Martin Skoula.
MONTREAL CANADIENS: Francis Bouillon, Mathieu Dandenault, Saku Koivu, Mike Komisarek, Tom Kostopoulos, Alex Kovalev, Robert Lang, Mathieu Schneider, Alex Tanguay.
NASHVILLE PREDATORS; Radek Bonk, Greg de Vries, Ville Koistinen, Scott Nichol.
NEW JERSEY DEVILS: Scott Clemmensen, Brian Gionta, Niclas Havelid, Bobby Holik, John Madden, Johnny Oduya, Michael Rupp, Brendan Shanahan.
NEW YORK ISLANDERS: Andy Hilbert, Joey MacDonald, Dean McAmmond, Mike Sillinger, Doug Weight.
NEW YORK RANGERS: Nik Antropov, Paul Mara, Derek Morris.
OTTAWA SENATORS: Mike Comrie, Chris Neil.
PHILADELPHIA FLYERS: Andrew Alberts, Martin Biron, Mike Knuble, Antero Niittymaki.
PHOENIX COYOTES: Dmitri Kalinin, Ken Klee,Steve Reinprecht.
PITTSBURGH PENGUINS: Philippe Boucher, Ruslan Fedotenko, Mathieu Garon, Hal Gill, Bill Guerin, Miroslav Satan, Petr Sykora.
SAN JOSE SHARKS: Rob Blake, Brian Boucher, Mike Grier, Kent Huskins, Travis Moen, Jeremy Roenick.
ST. LOUIS BLUES: Dan Hinote, Manny Legace, Keith Tkachuk.
TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING: Marek Malik.
TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS: Martin Gerber, Curtis Joseph, Olaf Kolzig, Brad May.
VANCOUVER CANUCKS: Jason Labarbera, Mattias Ohlund, Daniel Sedin, Henrik Sedin.
WASHINGTON CAPITALS: Donald Brashear, Sergei Fedorov, Viktor Kozlov.
Let the debates begin! We'll be tackling this more over the coming month. See anyone on the list you like? And don't say Marian fucking Gaborik either...