Stat of the day

With Klesla being the latest Jacket to re-sign I wanted to take a quick look at where the Jackets stand for next season in terms of the cap/budget:

Current payroll: $49.607

Scheduled to come off the books:
Modin: $3.25
Torres: $2.5

Total: $5.75 mil

Raises for next season:
Brassard: $2.035
Vermette: $.750
Klesla: $.750
Nash: $.500
Umberger: $.500
Tyutin: $.300
Methot: $.075
Dorsett: $.040
Murray: $.025
Voracek: ($.100)
Mason: ($0.085)

Total: 4.76 mil

Payroll committed for next season: 47.732 mil

All numbers pulled from capgeek.com.

As you can see the $$ that is scheduled to come off the books next year has already been dished out to players that have been extended.

That total also does not includes raises to soon to be RFAs like Kris Russell, Anton Stralman, Jared Boll and Mike Blunden. Voracek and Mason will also be eligible to be extended next offseason.

The only significant salaries coming off the books the season after this one will be Jan Hejda (2mil), Andrew Murray (.650k) and Mathieu Garon (1.2 mil).

So unless trades occur or ownership decides to up the payroll this team is not going to change a whole lot over the next few seasons and any thoughts of dipping into the free agent pool for any major upgrades should vanish or you will be setting yourself up for disappointment.

That's not necessarily a bad thing at all as this team should be good and it shows Howson has identified his core and has locked them up for the foreseeable suture.

In other news former Jacket Dan Fritsche has been signed by the Syracuse Crunch on an AHL only deal.

Since it's an AHL only deal the chances of him playing for the Jackets again are slim but should he light it up down there and injuries start to pile up up here anything is possible.

This is certainly a nice pickup for the Crunch and without a doubt helps the depth on that team. Fritsche will no doubt play a major role on that hockey club.

I always like Fritsche's work ethic but it seemed at times he thought he was better than he actually was which I think hurt him a bit. Hopefully this will be a good reset for him as he looks to climb the ladder back into the NHL b/c afterall, the guy is only 24.

-LTL