- Aug 22, 2006
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I haven't looked closely at cap conditions in the league, but I suspect the cap won't be going up in the next couple of years. My understanding is that many teams are already up against the cap. If this is the case, I suspect trends we've seen in the past come to the fore again: top end players get paid, while the top quality role players/depth get squeezed. Danault may not have that much of a market for him north of $4m in these conditions.
I'm the same, I've only read or heard bits and pieces. Mostly claiming that at maximum the cap may increase by 1mil per season until the league stabilizes. I believe there are a fair amount of teams against the cap. Either that or due to covid, teams are lowering their internal cap levels.
That's the point, Danault is easily one of the top UFA's currently available this off season. Most of the current top players will probably be re-signed by their current team(s). Off the top of my head, the only center who competes with Danault is Nugent-Hopkins. So if we're able to keep him for $4m plus, I'd be thrilled. Though IMO if he's not willing to take a home town discount. He'll make much more than that on the open market.