New Jersey Devils have been searching for a way to get under the salary cap all summer.  Ever since they signed Patrick Elias to a 7.5 million dollar contract and an arbirator awarded Scott Gomez 5 million dollars, the Devils have been over the 44 million dollar salary cap.  So, in true Devil stlye, Lou Lamoriello(the president and GM), has traded defenseman Vladimir Malakhov to the San Jose Sharks.  This leaves some questions left about the Devils and the salary cap.

I want to be the first here to say that I cannot stand the Devils.  So, I might have a little anomisity towards them and their handling of their salary cap issues.  But, I think this was the best thing they could have done for their team in the current situation.  The Devils get rid of a suspended player to a team they will only play once.  In return, they get nothing.  I would have to say that Lou worked a little magic on this trade.  The bigger question will be how to handle Brian Giotta’s contract when the sign him.  The Devils are out of money for him this year unless they trade someone else away. 

Two things to mention about this whole salary cap idea in the NHL.  First, I thought the NHL was broke.  But, last report was that the NHL made money from last year.  Scoring was up and people came back to watch.  Devoted hockey fans are hard to get rid of I guess.  I would put hockey fan devotion up with the people that still have the Number 3 on all their stuff.(Dale Earnhardt, God rest his soul)  So the NHL has made money.  Second, the NHL is the only league that has a hard salary cap.  Meaning, if you go over, you need to cut or trade somebody.  Yes, I know the NFL is close to this too, but the NFL has so many rules to get around this that you can keep a winning team together for years before paying the price.  The NBA salary cap has been a joke since Jordan.  I guess Jordan rules apply to salary caps too.  Don’t get me started on Baseball.  I am just rambling at this point, but I think Hockey’s salary cap should be imposed on the other sports. 

 Does anyone have OLN so I can watch the games?