The 2023-24 NHL regular season is less than a week away from beginning, and we are absolutely fired up about it. Multiple questions still face the Canucks as the preseason nears its conclusion, but there are still some things outside of Canucksland that need to be discussed. Let’s dive into those things!
Bettman offers salary cap projection of $87-88 million
During Wednesday’s Board of Governers meeting in New York, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman offered up what he called a “very preliminary” projection of the league’s salary cap for the 2024-25 season.
Is wholeheartedly believing what Gary Bettman says when even he called it a “very preliminary” projection a good idea? Probably not!
That being said, what would the Canucks be able to do with $87-88 million? Is hearing that number actually come out of the commissioner’s mouth enough for Patrik Allvin and the Canucks to feel comfortable increasing their offer to Elias Pettersson in one last-ditch attempt to get the first line centre’s contract extension done? Maybe!
What’s more likely, is that the words from Gary Bettman should be taken with the same level of suspicion we’ve all developed over the years. The main holdup in a salary cap increase has been the outstanding escrow debt owed from players to owners as a result of the pandemic, which Bettman said yesterday is down to approximately $50 million and will ultimately be paid off this season.
So while there seems to be more reason than normal to buy what Bettman is selling here, we won’t be all that surprised if he comes out in May and says “oh you folks didn’t remember this other reason that’s going to stop us from increasing the salary cap, this is completely out of my hands!”
Cal Foote hits waivers
Now, this is the part of the article that’s going to be a bit dated within two hours, so we’ll be sure to update it when the waiver claims are processed at 11 AM PT.
One of the names on October 4th’s waiver wire is Cal Foote, son of Canucks assistant coach Adam Foote.
Foote signed a one-year two-way contract with the New Jersey Devils this past offseason after spending last season with the Tampa Bay Lightning and Nashville Predators. The 14th overall pick of the 2017 NHL Entry Draft, Foote hasn’t lived up to his draft billing, but given the Canucks’ scarcity on the right side of their blue line, the 24-year-old right shot defenceman seems like an obvious claim for the Canucks to make.
The wrinkle in all this, of course, is that not only is his dad part of the organization, his dad runs the Canucks’ defence. According to Rick Dhaliwal of Donnie and Dhali — The Team, this was a main reason why the Canucks didn’t talk to Foote much in free agency this past offseason, and this morning, Dhaliwal reiterated that point.
Foote tallied two goals and five assists through 50 NHL games last season. He’s only played five AHL games since the 2020-21 season, and it would be somewhat surprising to see him go through the waiver wire unclaimed. We will see what happens in less than two hours and will be sure to update this article when we find out Foote’s waiver wire fate!
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