[truebluefan]

The CBA doesn't expire until after 2010-11 - anyone who believes the PA will exercise its right to opt out of the agreement following the 2008-09 season hasn't been paying the slightest attention whatsoever; what are the players going to do, hand the commissioner the keys to the lock(out) two years early? - but you can already make book on a pair of changes the NHL will insist upon in the next round of, heh-heh, negotiations.

First, expect the league to demand that all one-way contracts - and all two-way contracts where the minor league money exceeds, say, $100,000 per - be counted under the team cap. This was part of essentially every NHL proposal through the last lockout, dropped only when the PA gave up the fight.

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