The NHL's salary cap "will be going up by nearly $5 million next season," according to TSN.ca. Teams and agents are "being told next year's salary cap will be set at an upper limit of $64 million with a floor of $48 million." The league's cap -- entering its seventh season under the current CBA -- "has risen every year since the end of the NHL lockout when the cap was set" at $39M (TSN.ca, 6/20). The Stanley Cup-winning Bruins are "already over the new cap," and the Devils and Canucks "would be right up against it" (CBSSPORTS.com, 6/20).
ICY RECEPTION: In Boston, Kevin Paul Dupont wrote NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman "isn’t likely ever to be greeted with open arms and sweet kisses" at any current arenas. However, that "boo-ridden beatdown he took" during the presentation of the Conn Smythe and Stanley Cup trophies Wednesday in Vancouver "was outrageous, even vulgar." Many, if not most, Canadians "believe Bettman has been unfriendly to Canadian hockey at large, pointing to the loss of the Winnipeg and Quebec franchises under his watch." Bettman said, "People sometimes have perceptions as to why things do and don’t happen. People who understand what exactly we have tried to accomplish and the fact that most of the Canadian franchises wouldn’t be in Canada anymore if not for the things we’ve done over the last two decades … they get it" (BOSTON GLOBE, 6/19). In New Jersey, Tom Gulitti wrote, "It's embarrassing for the NHL ... that the crowning moment of its season brings such a negative reaction from the fans." The "time has come to reduce Bettman's role in -- if not completely eliminate him from -- the Conn Smythe and Cup presentations" (Bergen RECORD, 6/18).
