And the magic number is...

57.7

Yes, on the latest edition of CBC's Satellite Hotstove, it was reported that the salary cap for the 2010-2011 season will be around 57.7 million, an increase of approximately 900,000.

So what does that mean for the Ottawa Senators? I checked Capgeek.com to find out!

The Senators currently have Just under 47.5 million in salaries against the cap for next season. That equals just about 10 million in available cap space.

So who on the current roster needs to be re-signed?

Well, at this moment, the most important are Peter Regin and Anton Volchenkov. Regin has been a reliable defensive presence in his rookie season, and has recently exploded offensively after joining Jason Spezza and Daniel Alfredsson on the top line. It's not yet known where his ceiling will be, but it's reasonable to expect him to become a solid secondary scorer, able to put up 40-60 points. However, he has only shown glimpses of that potential this season, and hopefully Ottawa will be able to re-sign him to a reasonable contract. Something along the lines of 3 years at 2 million per season. Some would say that's over-paying, but if you look at someone like Chris Kelly, who is similar defensively but has less scoring potential, it fits.

It appears Volchenkov's agent Jay Grossman may be asking for up to 5 million a season for his client. That would be a gross overpayment for such a one-dimensional player as Volchenkov, as awe-inspiring as he may be. If you add up the average salaries of the 19 defenseman around the league most similar to Volchenkov, it averages out to about 3.5 million a season. If you just look at similar players signed last off-season, your looking at an average of around 4.0 million. Add inflation, and Volchenkov could get up to 4.750 from the Senators. But he does love Ottawa, so hopefully he will take a tiny discount, maybe 4.0-4.25. I can hope for closer to 3.5-3.75, but I'm an idealist, not a fool. Of course, there is a rumour that Anton just wants to gauge the Senators chance at a Stanley Cup. Maybe if the team does well in the 2010 post-seaason, my hope's will become reality. Ok, maybe I am a fool. You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one!

After Peter and Anton, the next biggest fishes in the Sea of Red are Nick Foligno and Andy Sutton. The latter has already endeared himself to the Sens Army with his physical play and his effect on emerging super-rookie Erik Karlsson. Some see him as a potential replacement for Volchenkov should he decide to test greener waters (A mixed metaphor, yay!), but I believe he is valuable to this team either way, and should be retained. He could probably ask (and receive) the same amount he's making now (a 3.000 million dollar cap hit), but it would not be unreasonable to assume that at 35, he decides to take a discount to stay on a team close to his hometown (He's a good ol' Kingston boy, as Donald Cherry would bellow). I'd rather any deal be for one year, and certainly no longer than two.

Foligno has always been expected to eventually fill a top-6 role. But he has yet to really come close, apart from one good run late last season. His play is still an asset to this team, and his youth still allows us to believe that more can come from him. At worst, I see him getting around 1.5 million on a 2-3 year deal.

And finally, there's Matt Cullen, Jesse Winchester and Sean Donovan. I actually forgot Donovan was still on this team! he probably won't be for much longer.

Winchester has developed into a solid 4th line player, but has yet to solidify his spot on the roster. But he brings energy and feistiness, and wouldn't cost more than 600,000 to retain. I say keep him.

That leaves Matt Cullen. Though he has yet to provide the consistent secondary scoring expected of him, his calmness with and without the puck as been a boon for this club, and his addition seems to have sparked the power-play! I would prefer to keep him as well. The problem is, he could ask for between 2.5-3.0 million.

So where does that leave the team? Well, if you calculate:

Volchenkov: 4.250 +
Sutton 3.000 +
Cullen 2.750 +
Regin 2.000 +
Foligno 1.500 +
Winchester 0.600

Your left with a grand total of 14.1 to add to the 47.5 already commited to salaries. That's 61.6 in all! 3.9 million dollars over the salary cap. But wait, isn't there a fellow on the team that makes close to that? I think he may play defense...I haven't seen him on the roster often this season, and when he has he's been entirely invisible...he has the same amount of passion as Wade Redden...hrm...does his name begin with a K?

OHH RIGHT, Filip Kuba, I remember now. Trading him this summer (his no trade clause apparently ends in July) would free up 3.75 million dollars! That would put the Sens just 200,000 over the cap. So it's as simple as moving a Ryan Shannon or not signing a Jesse Winchester...and voila, Ottawa is under the cap! They would be hugging it like David Suzuki and a tree, but they'd be under it!

Also keep in mind that I used the worst case scenario's when adding up the resigned players salaries. If the sun decides to shine out of a dog's butt this summer, the team's upcoming free agents could all be resigned for as little as 10 million! Maybe someday you'll join us, and the wooooooooorrrrld will live as one..

So yes, I was speaking about trading Kuba wasn't I? I so enjoy discussing that! What teams may have interest in him? Well, Anaheim, Dallas, Phoenix( OR SHOULD I SAY WINNIPEG! BAH DA DA DA), Colorado, New Jersey, The Islanders, and Florida could be in the market for a decent second pairing defense who is unexceptional in every way. You can have him for  4th round pick! We'll even throw in a couple of thousand copies of Carrie Underwood's complete discography that  you can then give away as a free gift for buying a ticket (and God knows you need something to draw people in...)!

The only conceivable issue here is that the team would be left almost identical to this season's roster. But that is not really a bad thing. This team at it's best can compete with the best teams in the Eastern Conference. It only needs to find some consistency, and that is ultimately the role of the team's leaders.

The only way I could see a Free Agent signing making sense is if Volchenkov or Sutton walk. In that scenario, chasing a Dan Hamhuis, Zbynek Michalek or Dennis Seidenberg could be beneficial.

There are rumours floating around that the team may buy-out Johnathon Cheechoo's contract. this coming June. That would be a grave mistake, as the buy-out would take up 1.7 million in valuable cap space. The team already has space committed to Ray Emery and Christoph Schubert next year, it doesn't need Cheechoo's added to it. Especially when they can just leave him in the minors. it's not like he's missing out on a chance to play for a different NHL team, and the ultimate savings for Eugene Melnyk's wallet aren't enough to justify taking the hit on the cap.

Well, that about wraps it up for me.

I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it!

GRR