The Avs and salary considerations

Once the new CBA is signed, the Avs have a bit of work to do in order to sign the players they need and stay under the cap. TSN.ca has a good overlook of each team's situation. Essentially, the Avs have $22.825 million committed to 11 players, and that's after the 24% salary rollback, and they have about $16.175 million to sign the likes of Peter Forsberg, Adam Foote, Milan Hejduk, Alex Tanguay, David Aebischer, Marek Svatos, plus a few other minor league players and role players (I'm assuming that the Avs and Kariya/Selanne will mutually want nothing to do with each other).

This is quite a daunting task, but consider that the Avs will probably not excercise the option on Chris Gratton's contract, saving $1.9 million, and probably buy out Vincent Damphousse's $1.52 million (this time only, teams will be able to buy out contracts for 2/3 the value without it counting against the cap). I think the question of whether or not the Avs can keep their main core together will really come down to Forsberg. Injuries aside, he's a no-brainer asset to the team, and he's indicated he wants to return to Colorado, but will he settle for a paycut. Joe Sakic and Rob Blake will be making around $6.5 million each. If Forsberg wants that much (there will certainly be other teams with cap space to offer that much, if not more), it would make other stars like Hejduk, Tanguay, Aebischer, and Foote that much harder to sign.

If Peter's the type of player I'd like to think he is, he'll take a pay cut. Consider this he committed to playing for less money in his hometown in Sweden before the lockout, so perhaps he'll demonstrate the same loyalty to his 2nd home and come back to the Avs.