Taking a page almost exactly out of the Blue Jackets settlement with Anton Stralman, the Calgary Flames reached a deal with their own offensive minded defenseman Ian White prior to his arbitration hearing. What’s different this time is that Ian White got a nicer chunk of change out of the deal, signing for one year at $2,999,995. Yes, the NHLPA announced the settlement at that amount.
I can’t help but wonder where that other five dollars went to that would’ve put White at a cool $3 million even. Perhaps they docked Ian White five bucks for no longer sporting a wicked mustache. A no-mustache tax if you will. Maybe Flames general manager Daryl Sutter just wanted a hot dog while waiting things out to get White’s contract settled and White said, “Don’t worry boss, I got this one.”
Chances are that last one isn’t the case as White’s contract now puts the Flames in a bit of salary cap peril. Cap Geek shows that the Flames are more than $2 million over the cap as it stands and that’s not accounting for young forward Mikael Backlund’s salary at $1.27 million either. Backlund is very likely going to be starting the year in Calgary unless the Flames decide to get excessively cheap and send him back to Abbotsford in the AHL just because they can do it to save money. You can’t help but wonder why in the world the Flames are keeping Ales Kotalik and his $3 million a year cap hit around for.