Cap Crunch: Not the cereal.

In this bizarro world that we live in, the NHL and the NHLPA have had to create a new CBA ahead of the old one expiring. Both sides were heavily motivated to get this done as they need to show NBC that they can provide a stable market for advertising and creating revenue. The players obviously want to get paid and the owners need to keep their Scrooge McDuck vaults at swimming level, so the deal will be signed soon.

Unfortunately, in a realistic turn of events, the Canucks are screwed. The cap for the next two seasons will stay at $81.5 million. There has been no talk of amnesty buyouts, so those of you hoping for a Loui/Myers/Beagle cleaning, can grab a beer and cry into it. The Canucks are still paying Lu and Spooner from their buyouts and Sven will be buried for one more year.

Here is the Capfriendly situation:

capfriendly.com

The Canucks have $18 million to fill in the gaps next year. That’s it.

And remember this...2021-22 is the last year of Petey, Demko and Quinn’s ELCs. The cap will still be $81.5 million, so if you spend all the money this year, get ready to trade someone....like Brock.

So what is the plan NMers? Tanev is gone? Ditch Marky now and get Demko going early (I don’t agree with that...) Is Stetcher done?

One more thing to keep in mind. If you think you can just trade someone and dump salary, there are a lot of teams in the same boat as the Canucks now. So we may have to watch a player or two leave town with nothing in return...just like the summer of Hamhuis and Vrbata.