**Reliable sources! I have it on excellent authority that this is how the 6 years of Kipper's new contract break down:

• 2008/09: $8.5M
• 2009/10: $7.0M
• 2010/11: $7.0M
• 2011/12: $6.0M
• 2012/13: $5.0M
• 2013/14: $1.5M

So the initial reports of the contract being pretty front-loaded were correct, but the details were off. (If you care: CBA Article 50.7 says a contract cannot drop from one year to the next by more than 50% of the value of the lesser of the first two years. Lesser of the first two years of this deal is $7M, 50% of that is $3.5M, so $5M followed by ($5M-$3.5M=) $1.5M is OK, whereas $6.7M followed by $1.5M is not.)

The actual implications of this structure (pending the details of the no-trade, no-move elements of the deal), in terms of what fans care about, is roughly:

1. In the late years of the deal, Kipper is quite tradeable (if need be) to teams who are operating well under the cap. Say that after Year 4, Calgary and Atlanta are talking deal: Atlanta only cares that they have to pay Kipper $6.5M over 2 years; the fact that his cap charge is $5.83M/yr is of little consequence to them because they aren't anywhere near exceeding the cap.
2. Similarly, he can be waived (i.e. sent to the minors) quite comfortably in the late years. Salaries for minor league players, even if they're on a one-way contract, do not count against the cap; the kicker is that you still have to pay them their regular salary. Clearly, if Kipper is not performing well -- or even well enough to be the regular starter -- then sending him to the minors for Year 6, and paying him $1.5M to get rid of a $5.83M cap hit, would be an easy decision.
3. And following directly from that, it's equally clear that Kipper would probably be motivated to retire if that was the case. Playing in the minors for $1.5M at age 37 after earning $33.5M in the NHL the previous 5 years is presumably unappealing.
   

**Meta-NHL. If you read too much, it's really easy to become convinced that the NHL is uniquely screwed. Two articles at ESPN.com yesterday drove home once again that this isn't the case. Bill Simmons:

The question remains: Why do the people running the NBA care so much about big-picture issues and causes (globalization, technological advancements, the WNBA, etc.) and so little about the quality and integrity of the league itself?

If there was a WNHL, this would be rather on point, wouldn't it? (Appropriately, he ends this segment with, "...let's hope Gary Bettman didn't secretly take over this league a year ago.") And Chuck Klosterman:

American pro basketball continues to self-identify as forever facing doom, almost out of habit.

The reason for this is forever the same: The NBA is hopelessly, endlessly, incorrigibly narcissistic. It's a quality that defines every decision the league office makes and every direction it takes.

When people hear the word "narcissistic," they associate it with egotism, but that's not really accurate. The failing of the mythical Narcissus was not his obsession with himself; it was his obsession with his image. And this is what prompts the NBA to wrestle with itself. No other league is as preoccupied with how others feel about its product. At least twice a year, David Stern feels obligated to deliver a state of the union address that dissects the minutia of TV ratings and tries to manipulate whatever image problem the association happens to be consumed with at the moment. [...] Unlike other sports, pro hoops tries to actively reinterpret the meaning of everything it is; it wants to control the way fans think about it. But this can never work, because the NBA has three problems that are inherent to its modern existence. Stern can't spin them because they are not image-related. They are simply realities that need to be accepted.

Problem 1: Some games are going to be boring

Unlike other sports, you say, Chuck? Pffft.
**He's done it again. More fantastic work by Vic Ferrari at IOF yesterday. He does a terrific job of both explaining and disclaiming his figures, so I won't try to summarize.

What I will say, in my semi-annual rant on this point, is that people who reject this kind of stuff out of hand are really stupid.

• Numbers are a tool; a starting point. They will not infect you; they do not prevent you from appreciating less tangible things and assigning them whatever importance you please.
• Don't look at a particular stat and say "that's useless" because it's not a perfect expression of the abilities of a hockey player. That's extremely lazy; no stat is.
• If you really are an intelligent and observant hockey fan, a randomly selected statistical table is considerably more likely to confirm your biases (or your own two eyes) than contradict them.

The Flames wrap up their 7-game homestand tonight (4-1-1 so far) against the Red Wings (6PM MT, Flames PPV), who look to be the class of the conference.

I see Henrik Zetterberg is finally getting the respect he has earned over the past couple of seasons. Duhatschek had a nice piece on him last week on Monday; my favourite is probably still Razor Reaugh's from February.

From my own perspective: Spezza, Ovechkin, Crosby, and a few others can make defenders look awful on any given shift, but there is no one who is the equal of Zetterberg (and his line) at making the opposition look completely inept for an entire game. They control the puck beautifully, one guy is always finding some open space, and when they don't have the puck, they seem to get in the way of everything. Call them the Line Most Likely to Make You Depressed About Your Team's Ability to Clear Their Own Zone.

On that note, they pretty much mauled the Iginla line in a direct matchup on October 10th in Detroit. I'll be interested to see tonight whether Keenan goes for the Power vs Power rematch, or whether he crosses his fingers and sends out Lombardi & wingers against Zed, while sending Iginla against Samuelsson (or Draper).

The Flames are 6-1-2 since that game in Detroit, and have looked for the most part like a darn good hockey team. Tonight is definitely a test, one that I think they're ready to pass. Calgary 3, Detroit 2. Go Flames.