I know I'm dreaming but I would love to see Homer pull off a surprise trade for Stamkos (since TB is so far out of the race). Say Briere, Bob, and two 1st rounders. It would all hinge on Brieres health status but 2012 would look like this (resigning Jagr, Carle, and Voracek - Assuming Pronger done for career) with $3 million in cap space:
CAPGEEK.COM CAP CALCULATOR
FORWARDS
Scott Hartnell ($4.200m) / Claude Giroux ($3.750m) / Jaromir Jagr ($3.300m)
James Van Riemsdyk ($4.250m) / Brayden Schenn ($3.110m) / Steven Stamkos ($7.500m)
Jakub Voracek ($2.250m) / Sean Couturier ($1.375m) / Wayne Simmonds ($1.750m)
Matt Read ($0.900m) / Maxime Talbot ($1.750m) / Zac Rinaldo ($0.544m)
DEFENSEMEN
Kimmo Timonen ($6.333m) / Braydon Coburn ($4.500m)
Andrej Meszaros ($4.000m) / Matt Carle ($3.437m)
Erik Gustafsson ($0.900m) / Marc-Andre Bourdon ($0.875m)
GOALTENDERS
Ilya Bryzgalov ($5.666m) / Niko Hovinen ($0.950m)
CAPGEEK.COM TOTALS
(these totals are compiled without the bonus cushion)
SALARY CAP: $64,300,000; CAP PAYROLL: $61,341,944; BONUSES: $2,805,000
CAP SPACE (20-man roster): $2,958,056
If Carle goes UFA then we'd have almost $7,000,000 in cap to replace him.
one can dream, right