Smith ready to play? How do we get cap relief now?

OK, someone on HFBoards recently posted this:

A teammate of mine was at the Sensplex for his league game and noticed
afterwards that Jason Smith and Chris Neil were playing with some guys
from a division 1 game. Apparently Smith looked really good, and not
injured at all.

Do we have any "official" updates on him yet? Doesn't look like he'll be on the LTIR.

Since we have not had any official word on Smith's injury, I am inclined to think that all those earlier rumors of this being career-ending, or that he won't be able to play this season were just that -- rumors. Seriously, if Smith was really not healthy enough to go, would we not have heard something official by now?

Look at it another way. With Heatley still here, the Sens are over the cap. Murray needs to clear about $2M to get under the cap and leave $1.5M for injury reserves and some deadline moves. Other GMs know this and can use that as leverage. If Murray could, would he *not* come out and say that Smith will start the year on the LTIR? Surely that would give him a slight edge in any negotiations?

Murray needs to clear cap space to start the season, and not having that hanging over him would make it (slightly) easier in negotiating a deal for Heatley. So why has he not done anything? Is he still thinking that a deal will be done? If not, can you explain why no moves have been made?

I fully believe that Murray has a plan to get under the cap while still holding onto Heatley.

wprager wrote:OK, someone on HFBoards recently posted this:

A teammate of mine was at the Sensplex for his league game and noticed
afterwards that Jason Smith and Chris Neil were playing with some guys
from a division 1 game. Apparently Smith looked really good, and not
injured at all.

Do we have any "official" updates on him yet? Doesn't look like he'll be on the LTIR.

Since we have not had any official word on Smith's injury, I am inclined to think that all those earlier rumors of this being career-ending, or that he won't be able to play this season were just that -- rumors. Seriously, if Smith was really not healthy enough to go, would we not have heard something official by now?

Look at it another way. With Heatley still here, the Sens are over the cap. Murray needs to clear about $2M to get under the cap and leave $1.5M for injury reserves and some deadline moves. Other GMs know this and can use that as leverage. If Murray could, would he *not* come out and say that Smith will start the year on the LTIR? Surely that would give him a slight edge in any negotiations?

Murray needs to clear cap space to start the season, and not having that hanging over him would make it (slightly) easier in negotiating a deal for Heatley. So why has he not done anything? Is he still thinking that a deal will be done? If not, can you explain why no moves have been made?

I have kinda been saying this since May. I am sure we would have heard something if Smith had a long term injury. I for one am happy to hear that he was playing and looking good.

Murray would have known either way whether Smith was going to be on LTIR. He's got a plan to get under either way I suspect. Smith is a great mentor for the kids.