the 4th star

This past summer has been all about the money. There was the unrestricted free agent *frenzy.* That was around the same time the Phoenix Coyotes financial problems came into the spotlight, when BlackBerry billionaire Jim Balsillie threw his two cents into the fray and the league kept talking out of both sides of its mouth. You know, the place they seem reluctant to put their money in.

Screwed up contracts — both legitimate Chicago fuck-ups and the over-spending variety — became commonplace, and some players decided to gamble on the bigger payday in Russia. Terms like “escrow” and “cap numbers” came to be a part of the conversation, too. Then there was even more change — and even less sense — from Patrick Kane, who allegedly tag-teamed a Buffalo cab driver with his cousin over 20 cents.

It seems talk of climbing out of this recession has put money on the mind and our mind on the money, so in the spirit of cash, let’s take a look at all 21 teams 30 teams as training camps get set to fire up this month. Like most financial ventures, some teams will offer a greater return than others.

NASHVILLE PREDATORS

Central Division
2008-09 record: 40-34-8, last in the division, tenth in the conference
Cap space: $16.388 million

Tip sheet:
Let me check that again. Yep, the Preds have over $16 million to play with, which means they are just over the salary cap floor ($40.412 million)…No wonder Martin Erat makes the most money on the team ($5.25 million)…Word is they are in the Phil Kessel hunt…Head coach Barry Trotz rules. He is the sole reason this club finishes above .500 year in and year out…Jordin Tootoo will be suspended three times this season…The club used to play in the Gaylord Entertainment Center.

Fun fact:
Peter Forsberg hurt his foot while two-stepping in Nashville. OK, not factual, but not out of the realm of possibility, either.

You should really invest in this club because…
The young defence. Only the Blackhawks rival the Preds in terms of quality young defenders. The best one of the bunch is Shea Weber, but don’t overlook Ryan Suter or Dan Hamhuis.

The bottom will fall out with…
An empty piggy bank.

Key acquisition:
Now that you know the Predators are $16 million-plus away from the ceiling, how many players do you think they signed this summer? I’m not counting Marcel Goc (pronounced ‘Gotch’ for those of you still cracking wise about the arena’s former name).

Bottom line:
Same deal as the Edmonton Oilers or Buffalo Sabres. Enough spirit to get into the post season, and some quality coaching, just not enough talent.

Before we get to the Friday Wrap Jam, some sad news to pass along. Colleen Carlton (aka Tammin Sursok, above), daughter of Traci Abbott and the recently trapped under ice Brad Carlton, was killed off the Young and the Restless this week. Just like her father, she drowned. Apparently all that time spent by the Abbott pool didn’t amount to sufficient swimming lessons for either of them.

It seems fans aren’t taking the killing off well. Here’s a cut and paste snippet of a posting I found on some Y&R message board that I’m not going to bother linking (please ignore the tyypos typos). What am I doing on a soap opera message board? Good question. Let’s just say that the cable still hasn’t been hooked up at the North End Estate yet and I need my stories!

I can forgive Y&R for a lot of things, bad writing, gory storylines, useless newbies but one thing I will never forgive and that will stop me watching overall is killing of a legacy young character such as Colleen. Older legacy characters such as John, Brad, Dru was a mistake to kill of course but at least they lived their life, we saw them get married, have kids, fufill their career and they experienced everything. But with young characters like Cassie and Colleen they had their whole ahead of them, we didnt see them get married, have children, their future careers, love interests. Colleen was a future top legacy character within 5-10yrs time. I dont think words can explain how I feel.

Wow. It is still just a soap opera, right? Cra-zee! Anyway, it looks like Victor’s been shot (by Patty) and doctors are going to use Colleen’s still-beating heart to keep the Dark Prince alive. And apparently Dru is coming back. Whoops. SPOILER ALERT!

Enough of this madness. Let’s get to the music. How ’bout some Madness?

Our house, won’t get cable for three weeks.