BY ALIN MATEESCU – FAN FUEL BLOGGER
With puckdrop for the 2012-13 NHL season set for Saturday, it is now time to examine each team’s roster as they head into a shortened 48 game season. Here is my look at the Anaheim Ducks and the possible questions facing their roster, their cap space, their unrestricted free agents and their restricted free agents. Salary cap and cap space provided by capgeek.com.
Salary Cap: $56,064,167 (21)
Cap Space: $14,135,833
Players Signed: 23
UFA: LW – Jason Blake, C – Rod Pelley
RFA: none
The Anaheim Ducks roster looks fairly set for the 2012-2013 shortened campaign after signing defencemen Bryan Allen and Sheldon Souray, and getting veteran forward Teemu Selanne to re-up for another year this summer.
It’s next season the Ducks should be worried about. Forwards Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry, Saku Koivu, Selanne, and defenceman Toni Lydman are all set to become unrestricted free agents.
With $32,839,167 in salary cap already tied to 12 players, and a shrinking cap ceiling of $64.3 million, the Ducks will have some difficult decisions to make. Re-signing Getzlaf and Perry is a must, however. After that, it’s making sure the club has the appropriate depth to compete.
As for this season, the club may look to shed salary rather than add. And if negotiations with either Getzlaf and Perry aren’t going well by the trade deadline, you can bet the Ducks will at least investigate what they may be able to get in return for their star forward(s).
Alin Mateescu is a full-time Front-end Web Developer with a passion for Online Marketing, Digital Media, and Web Development. Web Strategist. Sports junkie. Creator of iTalkHockey blog network. Managing Editor at RumorMeThis.com and RumorMeThat.com. Find out more about me at about.me/alinmat
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