Even with the cap lowering, certain guys are still gonna get paid....
There is a premium on big guys with size, that can also score, and play with some grit as well.
Shit Chicago just gave Bickell 4/16 in a massive overpayment, probably because they don't want to lose another Byfuglien, but more importantly there is no one even close to resembling him in the system.
Horton, Clarkson, and Clowe are better than Bickell, but provide the same type of gritty, character game that score goals...Unless one of them takes a massive hometown discount somewhere ( Clarkson and Toronto?)....then all three are going to get 5M, the market has kind of already been set by Chicago.
I understand that there aren't many teams with cap space out there, or as much cap space period that there used to be. However these guys are going to get paid. So are LeCavalier, Iginla Weiss and Briere ( maybe).
It will be guys like Ribiero, Bozak, Roy, Morrow, Jagr and MacArthur that I think are in for a rude awakening, with no big contracts thrown their way for various reasons ( Age, perception of being soft or 1 dimensional)