Re: Kovalev

“I always think about having left Montreal,” he said of signing a two-year, $10-million UFA contract with Ottawa in July 2009, having played four-plus seasons with the Canadiens.

“You make a mistake in life and you learn from it. I would make a different move if I could have that back.”

He thinks signing in Ottawa was a mistake. Well folks, that makes it unanimous: EVERYONE does.

Thomas has a no-trade, so who knows if he'd accept the trade to move somewhere else. Oh, hang on, it'll mean he gets $5M to do what he was planning to do: not play. He might just go for it.

I've heard Gomez spoken of in the same way, as his cap hit is $7.35M but he's being paid $4.5M and $3.5M for the next two seasons but that's a lot of scratch for someone's who's skills have dropped off that much.

I think the "over 35 - cap hit applies" is for players who signed the contract over the age of 35 but who are retired, rather than those who are 'taking a year off' as that would be a breach of contract by the player so the club can suspend him to get the salary off the cap and also not have to pay him a dime. Having said that, what if he takes another year off, and then another, and decides to "return" in 2014? He'd be 41, hasn't played in the NHL in three years and still has a contract to pay him $5M even if his skills are eroded to where he isn't effective anymore.