Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Moulson Signs to Avoid Arbitration

Another case of signing before going to arbitration sees Matt Moulson avoid the tattle-tale process by signing a 1-year deal worth $2.45 million on Tuesday.  This signing will take Moulson into unrestricted free agency next Summer and isn't a bad deal for the Islanders if he can repeat the year he had in 2010.

Moulson had a pretty good year in 2010, playing with John Tavares for a good portion of the season, where he scored 30 goals and added 18 assists in all 82 games for the Islanders. That was good enough for 134th in the NHL in pool scoring, 99th among forwards.  Those kind of numbers should put him in good position for the draft this year, if someone was to take a chance on a not-so-proven forward on an Islanders team that may still struggle offensively.

ForwardsDefenseGoalies
John TavaresMark StreitDwayne Roloson
Matt MoulsonJack HillenRick DiPietro
Frans NielsenBruno Gervais
Blake ComeauMark Eaton
Josh BaileyAndrew MacDonald
Trent HunterMilan Jurcina
Robbie SchrempBrendan Witt
PA ParenteauRadek Martinek
Zenon Konopka

The Islanders have yet to really improve on their offensive talent in the off-season, sticking with Tavares, Moulson and Bailey, still to sign Kyle Okposo, so I remain very hesitant about going to Long Island for any pool picks right away for the 2011 season.

Salary CapI'm not terribly sure what the team budget is for the 2011 season, but the Islanders are not going to be anywhere near the salary cap ceiling again, sitting currently with a team table of 20 players at a cap hit of $38.7 million, still a ways from the salary cap floor. Since the team still has to sign Okposo and a couple more players, they should have very few concerns making it up to $43.4 million, the cap floor.

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