The contracts Chia gave out last year were not really good IMO. Definitely no home town discounts.
I've read up now, and realised the cap is indeed due to be reduced for next year.
If you mean the three extensions right before the deadline, I don't see a problem with any of those deals. Maybe Looch was a smidge high, but he is obviously key to retain and a type of player every team in the NHL covets so you could very easily make an argument that he got the going rate. The contracts that could cause a problem, and will most likely see at least one Cup winner have to leave, are the Kelly, Peverley and Boychuk deals (all of those were also signed last year if I remember correctly). The "easy" route this summer is to let Ference go and replace him with a Prov guy (Krug?) or Johnson if he performs adequately this season.
Code:
CAPGEEK.COM USER GENERATED ROSTER
My Custom Lineup
FORWARDS
Milan Lucic ($6.000m) / David Krejci ($5.250m) / Tyler Seguin ($5.750m)
Brad Marchand ($4.500m) / Patrice Bergeron ($5.000m) / Nathan Horton ($4.000m)
Ryan Spooner ($0.870m) / Chris Kelly ($3.000m) / Rich Peverley ($3.250m)
Daniel Paille ($1.300m) / Gregory Campbell ($1.600m) / Shawn Thornton ($1.100m)
Chris Bourque ($0.550m) /
DEFENSEMEN
Zdeno Chara ($6.917m) / Dougie Hamilton ($1.494m)
Dennis Seidenberg ($3.250m) / Johnny Boychuk ($3.367m)
Torey Krug ($1.704m) / Adam McQuaid ($1.567m)
GOALTENDERS
Tuukka Rask ($4.500m)
Niklas Svedberg ($1.000m)
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CAPGEEK.COM TOTALS (follow @capgeek on Twitter)
(these totals are compiled with the bonus cushion)
SALARY CAP: $64,300,000; CAP PAYROLL: $65,230,833; BONUSES: $1,822,500
CAP SPACE (21-man roster): $891,667
With Ference let go and Krug in his place, Horton re-signed for equal salary and Rask getting a 4-5 year deal at 4.5 mil, we'd have room for another vet d-man (Johnson or someone of that ilk). Svedberg or Dobby doesn't really matter, they'd be on the same type of money if Dobby wants to stay. Bourque's cheap deal makes him ideal as the press-box forward if he doesn't completely stink up the place. I put Spooner in there, but it wouldn't really make any difference wether it's Knight or Sauve or Koko or whomever, the money would be about the same I imagine. We'd most likely have to play a kid there in any case.
If Ference is retained and Horton let go, we have a much more difficult situation imo. I really like Ference but he should be much easier replaced than Horty. It might be a reach that Nate re-ups at the same coin, depending on how he performs of course, but I'm counting a bit on him wanting to be here next year. An unlikely option for some minor relief would be to buy out Thornton and replace him with McDermid, which would probably save ~400k (McD is RFA). But I doubt they'd do that to Sugah.
Unfortunately, the cap situation doesn't really look to be any better next summer either, as it's just Thornton, Bergy and Seids that have expiring deals. Obviously, Bergy and Seids are no-brainers to extend, and at least Seids would be due a raise from his currently very cap-friendly deal. What is the word on the cap over the next few years, is it due to come up a bit after next season? If it doesn't, the B's might have to dump someone like Kelly or Pevs.