This strikes me as Brian Burke caving – Clarke MacArthur gets two years, $6.5 million. I didn’t think he’d top $3 million per. Did the Panthers influence this? Their crazy signings to get up to the salary floor is having a ripple effect, methinks.

There is an unconfirmed report from Darren Dreger that Keith Yandle has re-signed.

Tomas Kaberle has signed with the Hurricanes – analysis on that one up soon.

Congrats to Neil McWilliams, the winner of the DobberHockey Playoff Pool challenge. He wins a free custom jersey from Cool Hockey!

The Senators have signed Zenon Konopka to a contract.

If Ryan Johansen fails to make the Blue Jackets, in the fall, it may be because of this guy. Granted, Cam Atkinson is a winger and Johansen is a center, but assuming Matt Calvert is on the team I doubt they will go with three rookies ("almost" rookies, that is, since Calvert is not quite eligible). And since the center position is pretty full, Johansen may have to get there as a winger. Thus, it will be Atkinson vs. Johansen. Atkinson has done nothing but impress since coming out of college (and nearly winning the Hobey Baker). But sixth-round picks who are 5-9 have to work extra hard to get anywhere.

Anton Babchuk has re-signed with the Flames. He is the second-best offensive option back there, but probably won't be treated accordingly, as the team will continue to treat Bouwmeester like he's a Norris-winning 65-point player.

One day left – draw is tomorrow! “LIKE” Dobber Sports on Facebook, and win yourself a pair of Oakley’s! On July 6 I’ll draw a name from one of the likes, and send them a pair. We are also giving away two free copies of Tales from the Boston Bruins Locker Room, by Kerry Keene.

There is no right answer to parity and a salary restraint. But I think the closest we can get is a very strong luxury tax with a lenient, but punishing floor. It's simple. Set a cap of say $64.3 million just to pull a number out of the air randomly. For every dollar above that, a dollar gets taxed. At $10 million above the cap, the tax doubles. At $20 million above the cap, the tax triples.

Example: The Rangers (just to randomly select a team … out of the blue…completely random because we know the Rangers would never do this) bump the ol' payroll to $88 million. They are taxed $41.1 million, which goes to the bottom-10 teams in terms of revenue, provided they fulfill whatever attendance figures are needed.

Then set a lower salary floor, and teams who slip below it lose a share of that pie (how much of the pie, would depend on how far below the salary floor they are).

Jakob Silfverberg has been far and away the best Ottawa prospect in Development Camp. But he is steadfast in his intention to return to Sweden this season. But he’s one to stick in your pocket at the draft and hope he comes over for 2012-13.

And in case you had any doubts about David Rundblad making the squad this season, GM Bryan Murray puts your mind at ease.

Yann Danis may be an under-the-radar signing for the Oilers, but the rate Khabibulin gets hurt I think we’ll see him. Remember, we saw Martin Gerber a couple times last year.

Actually, we saw Gerber three times and he went 3-0-0 with a 0.958 SP. I believe that when a goaltender does that, it doesn’t matter if the other goalies are ready, you keep riding him. Maybe he was going to cost the Oilers Hopkins?

Here is a good breakdown of the Minnesota Wild depth chart, from Michael Russo.

In case you missed it, here is Part II of the Getzlaf vs. Ryan parody: