In Philadelphia, Sam Carchidi notes Flyers President Paul Holmgren is "on board with any offseason decision made" by Exec VP & GM Ron Hextall. Holmgren said that Hextall "will have 'free rein' to sign free agents if he thinks they will bolster the team." The salary cap is "expected to climb" from $75M to the $80M range this summer. If it does, the Flyers "could have" around $25.5M of available cap space. They still have to "sign some of their own players, but they should have plenty left over to make a bid for a marquee free-agent." Hextall has been the GM for four years, but this is the "first time" in his tenure that he will "have significant cap room" (PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, 4/25).
CAROLINA IN MY MIND: Hurricanes Owner Tom Dundon said of rumors that the team has been lowballing GM and coaching candidates, "If I thought that the money and the talent are one-to-one correlated, then I would spend the money. But I believe we can fit really talented people within our budget." Dundon added, "The biggest misconception that I've seen that GMs or coaches don't want to work for us." He said, "The hardest part is picking the right person; it's not getting the right candidates." Dundon also said in a "nontraditional market, you don't necessarily have the luxury of having as much support as you'd like through the good and bad times." Dundon: "That's the main thing: (Fans) want to support the team, but they need a reason" (ESPN.com, 4/24).
BETTER LATE THAN NEVER: In Buffalo, Mike Harrington writes Sabres co-Owner & CEO Terry Pegula was "about two years too late in not raising Sabres season ticket prices but at least last week's announcement gives bedraggled fans some food for thought." The organization has been "too tone deaf for too long but there's been a sense the last few months that the team is (finally) listening to its customers on a variety of topics much more than in earlier years of the Pegula ownership." It is "never too late to stop taking your fans for granted either. Especially your long-standing customers." There was "no possible way to justify yet another increase" (BUFFALO NEWS, 4/25).
