With the implementation of the NHL Salary Cap, general managers have been forced to use foresight and craftsmanship rather than just convince the owners to open their wallets and buy the best team in the league. One of the strategies that is being commonly used in the past two offseasons has been that of tiered contracts. A good example is the extension that the Maple Leafs and Bryan McCabe agreed to in June of 2006. The deal pays him $7.15 million this season, $6.15 million next season, and $4.15 million the last two years. One would think, ?$7.15 million is a heck of a lot to count against your team?s cap.? Well, it doesn?t. The ?Cap Number? is the averaged amount. So for the next four seasons, McCabe?s ?cap hit? is $5.75 million ? still not great, but it?s far more manageable than $7.15 million. What I have done is sifted through the rosters and cap numbers of all 30 teams and assembled what I believe to be the best 23-man roster (20 active, 3 scratches) under the $50.3 million salary cap. And please remember that the numbers used will be the players? cap numbers, not actually salary (although in some cases they are the same). I have also chosen to eliminate players who are currently being paid under the league?s 3-year rookie scale entry salary (Patrick Kane, etc), as choosing players who are being paid far below what their skills would normally entitle them to, is too easy and a cheap way to create this roster (pun intended). What I was willing to consider is those players who have already signed extensions beyond their entry level contracts (Sidney Crosby, Alexander Ovechkin), and I would count their cap number from the extension instead. Some of the players are veterans who have signed extensions with their current clubs and have received hefty raises due to increase in production. I still felt it realistic to pay them this year?s salary because the teams chose to pay them this contract; it wasn?t a league-mandated contract, and sometimes teams are just fortunate that they have players out-producing their dollars. So, without further ado? (Cap number ? in millions rounded to the nearest thousand ? in brackets) ?A? ? Assistant Captain ?C? ? Captain GOALIES Miikka Kiprusoff (3.333), Chris Osgood (0.850), Ty Conklin (0.500) Every great team starts with great goaltending. And though ?Kipper? is having a down year according to his standards, he is probably still a top-5 goalie in this league if you polled the players. You may attribute his struggles to his new coach, who certainly never shies away from berating his players, but he has picked up his game over the last month. The last 2 seasons he has won at least 40 games in each with a goals against average under 2.50 and save percentages well over 90%. Considering ?Kipper? makes about half the money other premier goalies around the league make, this was a no-brainer as a starting point. His hefty contract extension kicks in next year so this is his last year being paid as a good goalie when he truly is a great goalie. Osgood will be the primary backup and is being paid far, far less than what he has delivered this season. He was signed as an afterthought ? someone to backup Dominic Hasek for 20 games or so. No one expected him to lead the league in goals against (a surreal 1.87), be tied for 3rd in save percentage (92.5%), and already have 20 wins en route to an All-Star nod. Needless to say, he leveraged his great play into a contract extension which will almost double his pay next season. Conklin is the scratch, but as shown this year in leading a resurgent Penguins club since Christmas, he is more than capable of manning the pipes for a number of games. He has been a feel-good story around the league after he was charged with losing the Stanley Cup for the Oilers two years ago, to playing in the AHL this year. He has won 10 of his 12 starts this year with a goals against of 1.82 and a save percentage of 94.6% - numbers that would be leading the league if he had enough games played to qualify. DEFENSE Scott Niedermayer ?A? (6.750), Brian Campbell (1.500), Lubomir Visnovsky (1.824), Niklas Kronwall (3.000), Mike Commodore (1.250), Steve Montador (0.800), Sandis Ozolinsh (0.625) Every championship team needs a good mix of youth and veterans, offence and defense. The first pairing would be Niedermayer and Campbell. Niedermayer is a top-3 defenseman in the NHL whose accolades speak for themselves: he is headed to his fifth All-Star Game (after being nominated as an injury reserve despite only playing 18 games), has won four Stanley Cups (3 with New Jersey, and last year with Anaheim), won the 2003-04 Norris Trophy, and the 2007 Conn Smythe. He has played in 1071 career games, registering 619 points and a +185 rating. He is one of the most fundamentally sound defensive defensemen in addition to being a great offensive defenseman and one of the best leaders in the league. Campbell is headed to his second consecutive All-Star game this year and is tied for sixth among D-men with 33 points through 47 games. which sets him on pace to eclipse the 40-point mark for the third consecutive season. He has been with the Sabres since 1999-2000 and is their best defenseman by far. He should receive a hefty pay raise as he approaches unrestricted free agency this offseason. Both are left-handed shots, but Niedermayer is skilled enough with the stick to play on the right. The second pairing of Visnovsky (left) and Commodore (right) brings a balance of offence (Visnovsky) and gritty defense (Commodore). Visnovsky notched 18 goals and 58 points last year and 17 goals and 67 points the year before. He was the Kings? representative at the All-Star game last year as well and has a career +/- of +11 (even with his -18 this year) ? which is fantastic when you consider he has played his whole career for the lowly Kings. Commodore is a steady defender who first became popular with his strong defensive play in the Calgary Flames playoff run in 2004. He won a Cup with the Carolina Hurricanes in 2006. He was a very solid +29 last season and is a guy not afraid of the physical stuff nor afraid of dropping the mitts if need-be. The third pairing boasts an up-and-coming star with the Red Wings in Kronwall, who has 20 assists and is a +18 so far this season. At 27, the Wings saw enough promise to sign him to a long-term deal, and he is finally showing some of his potential this year. Montador will play beside him on the right. He hasn?t played much up until this season, but he has played a career high 41 games, has 10 points, has an even plus/minus, and logs about 13 minutes a night. On this squad, Niedermayer will likely take many of his minutes (the guy is a horse) and Ozolinsh, the veteran of 865 career games and 560 career points, will rotate in and out of the lineup as the 7th defenseman. FOURTH LINE C: Josef Vasicek (0.750), RW: Georges Laraque (1.200), LW: Chad Kilger (0.900), Richard Park (0.463) Vasicek is a decent offensive player ? this season is his fourth with double digits in goals. More importantly for this team, and his position on the fourth line, he is also a big guy at 6?5?, 214lbs. He also had 26 assists in 2003-04. Kilger (6?4?, 224lbs, 31 years old) is a career grinder and a very good one. He can play against the opposing team?s best players, can take key faceoffs despite being a winger, and can kill penalties. Every team needs a guy like Laraque ? an intimidating physical presence. The guy is signed for more than your average bruiser, but that is because he isn?t a complete liability on offence. Anyone trusted with being the bodyguard for Sidney Crosby is good enough to bodyguard this team?s offensive firepower. Park is taking the healthy scratch but is talented enough to play on the 3rd or 4th line, his small stature hidden by the giants of this fourth unit. He has spent parts of 10 seasons in the league, has notched 20 points in 5 of the last 6, and with one more goal he will have scored double figures in 5 of 6 as well. He is signed to the league minimum. THIRD LINE C: David Legwand (1.875), RW: Mike Fisher (1.500), LW: Daniel Cleary (0.663) Legwand is on pace for 60 points which would make back-to-back 60 point seasons after career highs in goals (27), assists (36), points (63), and plus/minus last year (+23). He has had three other 40+ point seasons and is playing like a 2nd line center for Nashville but will take the third line here. Fisher is a center, but the fact that he is right-handed and Legwand is left has him move to the wing. Fisher is Ottawa?s fourth-best forward and a very underrated player. He consistently faces off against the opponent?s best offensive line and kills penalties. He is on pace for a career year. After two-straight 22-goal seasons, he already has 18 this year and looks sure to break the 50-point mark for the first time in his career. He is also playoff-tested. Cleary has bounced around the league since 1997 and has mostly been a checking-line kind of guy. But after a 20-goal/20-assist season with the Wings last year, he has followed it up with 19 and 18 in 51 games so far this year, earning time on the power play and in key situations late in games. The 29-year old appears to be coming into his own as an offensive player. SECOND LINE C: Henrik Zetterberg ?A? (2.650), RW: Nikolai Zherdev (2.500), LW: Vaclav Prospal (1.900) Zetterberg is arguably the most underpaid star in the NHL, and he is signed for the same minimal amount next season as well thanks to a 4-year contract signed prior to the 2005-06 season. Before that contract, he played 2 seasons, netting 87 points in 140 games which is not star-quality but still better than any other 7th rounder in the NHL. Since then he has 214 points in 184 games. This year he is challenging for the scoring title despite missing time with injury. His 1.39 points per game leads the NHL. He is an assistant captain with the Wings as one of their franchise cornerstones, a good young leader who also kills penalties, an adequate defensive player, and both a sniper and a playmaker. Although listed at left wing on most websites, he has been primarly a center this season. On his right is another young offensive threat in Zherdev. His 20 goals and 23 assists have him tied for the team-lead in points and puts him on pace for a career season (his previous best was 27 goals and 27 assists in 2005-06). After that promising sophomore season, he had a down year last year after signing what was considered a big contract for a player of his caliber. This year he is showing why Columbus made that investment. Fifteen of his points have come on the power play, and he is averaging almost 20 minutes per night. Completing the All-Euro line is Prospal, who is four points shy of reaching 50 for the 7th time in his 11th season in the NHL. This season appears to be the third time he will break the 70-point barrier which he did in 2002-03 (22 goals, 57 assists, 79 points), and 2005-06 (25, 55, 80) both with Tampa. This year for the Lightning, he is tied for 2nd in goals (19) and tied for 3rd in assists (27), and is third in points (46). FIRST LINE C: Jason Spezza (4.500), RW: Daniel Alfredsson ?C? (4.339), LW: Ilya Kovalchuk (6.389) Though Spezza is the second best center on the team, he will center the first line because of his chemistry with Alfredsson and his role as a pure playmaker, which will make Kovalchuck even more dangerous than he already is. There are some that believe Spezza?s stats are overrated because of the team/line he plays on, but I disagree because he was often lighting things up when he was a star in the OHL before being drafted 2nd overall in 2001. He is only 24 and has 124 assists and 177 points in 135 games over the last 2 seasons, continuing the trend with 16 goals, 39 assists, and 55 points in 43 games this year. He is a dazzling stick handler and a weapon to have on the power play. There are sure to be a handful of 100-point seasons in his future. The Cap Team?s Captain is Alfredsson, the long-time captain of the Senators who has never shied away from the ample amount of scrutiny sent his way over the course of his career. Much of the criticism, of course, is his lack of playoff success, but did anyone really except Ottawa to win with Patrick Lalime as their starting goalie? They are the best team in the East this year and will aim to reach the Cup finals for the second consecutive year behind their heart and soul who is on pace for at least 70 points in the 7th consecutive season. One more goal and he will reach 30 on the year the fourth time in his career reaching that number after being one goal shy last year. He is averaging a career high 23 minutes per night this year, killing penalties, playing the point in the power play, and playing every key shift. The dynamic first line concludes with Kovalchuk, one of the premier goal scorers in the NHL and a potential Hall of Famer. In the three seasons prior to this, he scored 41, 52, and 42 goals, and he is on pace for 59 this year. At age 24, he already has 239 career goals. If he finishes with 55 this year and averages ?only? 40 a season for the next 6 (until he is 30/31,) he will have 500 career goals. That is a conservative estimate. He could very well have 600 goals by the time he is 32 or 33. He has 63 points this season, tying him for 2nd in the league and is on pace for a 100-point season for the first time in his young career. Kovalchuk won?t turn 25 until the playoffs this year, but he has already played 438 career games and has 442 points. Playing alongside the great vision of Spezza and Alfredsson will surely make Kovalchuck a 60-goal scorer on this squad, and with all the talent this squad has, he won?t be pressured into being ?the man? like he currently is in Atlanta. So there you have it. The team?s total cap number is $50.061 million, just under the $50.3 million cap. There was plenty of internal debating for this squad the biggest being Kovalchuck over Lecavalier, but in the end I felt the need for a pure sniper and that he would work best with the current first line rather than Lecavalier playing between Alfreddson and Zetterberg. Another debate was the combination of Spezza and Niedermayer vs. Zach Parise and Nicklas Lidstrom. However, I felt the upgrade from Parise to Spezza was larger than the minimal downgrade from Lidstrom to Niedermayer. - All salary and cap information is found at NHLscap.com Can you come up with a better team? Send it to me: nickobergan@hotmail.com ? if I get a few I might make an article out of the other submissions and the readers can vote on the best squad.