Cap era is challenging GMs' conventional wisdom

	Were the mediocre Maple Leafs wise to keep captain Mats Sundin, age 35, and his $6.3 million cap hit? AP
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Now that the dust has settled after last week's trading frenzy, consider the business aspects that arose at the deadline:

Some teams felt that making deals was cost prohibitive, with veteran hockey men John Muckler in Ottawa and Brian Burke in Anaheim the most vociferous. Both were adamantly opposed to parting with a ransom of prospects and picks for a short-term player even though doing so could mean putting their contending teams over the top in the chase for the Stanley Cup. Meanwhile, Kevin Lowe in Edmonton is now a villain to Oilers fans for shipping the face of the franchise, Ryan Smyth, to the Islanders for one of those ransom packages.

Then there is John Ferguson, Jr. in Toronto, still with captain Mats Sundin at 36 years old and heading for the option year of a contract that will use up $6.3 million of cap space if the club chooses to exercise it, the opportunity to collect a prospect/pick prize package now gone.

The various scenarios and approaches league-wide underscore that with salary cap considerations and free agency looming earlier and earlier for players, the prudent path for GMs is now open to endless second-guessing. Replenishing rosters with young players may still be the best way to go, but it is also possible that the changing face of free agency will mean that teams won't need to rely on their picks and prospects to emerge as much as in the past.

With the cap now in place, once a team allocates funds for its three or four top players -- another difficult decision for the GMs being where to emphasize spending while constructing their respective teams -- it stands to reason that more free agents on the market will mean more options to round out a roster without necessarily waiting for the kids to mature.

As this is only the second cap season, time is still needed to tell which approach is best. But is is most likely that success will lie in a combined approach that puts picks and prospects into play with the free agent pool to quickly produce a competitive team. In the meantime, the changing landscape of today's NHL business adds another layer of intrigue for fans.

The buzz generated last week was the most intense ever at the trade deadline and much of it had to do with not only the moves, but also the polarizing convictions of the men making the decisions. How the off-ice wrangling impacts the on-ice competition is even more compelling.

Parity reigns supreme with the difference between the top teams and those at the bottom of the standings arguably the slightest ever. Yes, it comes at the expense of dynasties. And some may cringe at the thought of last year's Stanley Cup Finals combatants -- the champion Carolina Hurricanes and the Edmonton Oilers -- both missing the playoffs in the very next season for the first time in NHL history.

But look at the trade off: The Western Conference is set in terms of the top eight, but seeding is up for grabs throughout and divisional races remain hotly contested in the Central and the Northwest in particular. In the East, the playoff picture won't crystallize until the final day of the season, with a myriad of combinations possible.

The opportunity to win in the moment is at hand in the NHL. It makes the games more meaningful deeper into the season and colors the construction of teams, challenging long held conventions about the wisdom of building patiently with youth. The byproduct of it all is hope on more fronts, which extends to the teams outside the playoff picture that played the role of sellers this time around.

If they got it right (think Philly and St. Louis), they can parlay their newly-acquired bounty -- with a free-agent signing or two this summer -- into instant competitiveness.

Sounds like a plan to me.