[Duffalufagus]

Originally Posted by Macindoc

Yes, Calgary would have had to pay more for Stone because the Flames would have had to offload some salary on Ottawa in return, so that would likely have added a first to Ottawa's firm ask for Valimaki. In addition, the Flames would probably have had to pay Stone more than the Knights offered, because of the very favourable tax laws in Nevada. Finally, if the Flames had added any medium to big ticket free agent, it would have also have cost them the cap space they have to pay bonuses this year, pushing those bonus overages into next year's cap space. As a result, Stone may have cost the Flames $10M/year to sign but may have cost them $11.35M in cap space next year due to bonus overages. As it sits now, the Flames have the cap space to cover their bonuses this year, so they will have an additional 1.35M in cap space next year (well, more precisely, they will not have that deduction from their cap space next season) that they would not have had if they had loaded up today.

So never on the cards then?