New Realities of the Cap Era?
Terry Jones gives an interesting view of the difficult position the cap era has created for Kevin Lowe.
“Unfortunately for Kevin Lowe, he had to do something we’re all going to have to do. He just had to do it first,” said the Minnesota Wild general manager.
“Because of the salary cap and players hitting unrestricted free agency earlier, every last general manager in the NHL is going to have to do the exact same thing Kevin had to do with Ryan Smyth.
I have only one problem with his assessment: how is this anything new for Oiler fans?
Edmonton has been watching its stars depart for decades. Is Smyth’s trade any worse than watching Doug Weight leave? Do we really need to go down the list all the way back to Wayne Gretzky?
The point is that the cap is going to be talked about as the cause of free agents departing despite the fact that players have been moving since long before the salary cap was in place. Ask Curtis Joseph about leaving Toronto for a chance at a cup in Detroit.
Lowe had cap space and money enough to sign Smyth. I’m not saying it was Lowe’s fault, or that it isn’t. That question has been blogged to death already. Let’s see how much success Smyth has with the Islanders and where he signs in the summer before we rush to pass judgement.
But I will say this: whoever is to blame for Smyth leaving, it wasn’t the salary cap.