For years leading up to the lockout, the New Jersey Devils and long time General Manager [b]Lou Lamarillo[/b] were one of the poster child franchises for how to run a team. Strong commitment to scouting, building from within and adding the key players at the key times. Having Martin Brodeur didn't hurt either. But right now the franchise appears to be on the verge of becoming a poster child for what not to do. I keep talking about the Devils because they (however unexpectedly) are the first team to really feel the bite of the constraint of the salary cap. According to ||{1}||, the Devils have already committed more than $47 million after Scott Gomez' award, which Lamarillo said he intends to accept. The 2006-07 Salary Cap? $44 million. Teams are permitted to go 10% over in the summer but must be at or under the $44 million mark by opening day. Also, they still have to re-sign Brian Gionta (48 goals, 89 points) who did not go to arbitration, defenseman Paul Martin, and also a back-up goaltender, among others. What hurts the Devils is that they have to include Alexander Mogilny's $3.5 million and Vladimir Malakhov's $3.6 million ($7.1 million total) in their cap this season even if Mogilny retires or stays in Albany (the Devils' minor league team). Malakhov already retired last season. There is a clause in the CBA where players 35 years of age or older signing multi-year contracts will have their number count towards the cap each year whether they are playing or not. (Which is why Joe Sakic signed a one year deal with Colorado, so he would not handcuff the franchise if he retired after this season.) So going on in the future, the removal of Malakhov and Mogilny will free up over $7 million for the 2007-2008 season. What are the odds that Gionta would accept a one year deal for much less than he would get on the open market, with the promise from Lou that he would be taken care of next season and going into the future, with a huge multi-year deal comparable to Elias. Gionta would be taking a huge risk, because if he were to sustain a long term injury he would be at risk. He would also be taking Lamarillo's word for it, since he could not sign a multi-year deal with a huge back end as the salary cap number for any player is the average salary for all seasons of the contract. Either way, like I have said before, the Devils are going to have to trade Gomez and Malakhov to a team with cap space in order to free up the $8.6 million which would allow for the signing of Gionta to a solid $3.5-$4 million dollar one year deal and also get under the Salary Cap. Whatever they were able to get back in return (likely minor leaguers and/or draft pick(s) would be gravy. The key is getting under the cap and getting Gionta back in the fold. The Gomez situation reminds me of the Marian Hossa contract where he got paid, but also got traded on the same day to Atlanta, because his new contract didn't fit into the Senators' salary structure. Lamarillo will not make out nearly as well as the Senators did by getting Dany Heatly in return, because they simply do not have the cap space to add any more salary in the form of a current player. These situations will become more and more common as the clubs get closer and closer to the maximum salary cap allowed, and then one year, all of a sudden the cap number goes down because of decreasing revenues, and teams have to clean house of high price talent in order to have enough bodies to field a team. How the Devils make out in this situation will determine if they are the poster child for what to do, or if they go on the what not to do poster.