Celebrate! Your Philadelphia Flyers, now under the Salary Cap

For the first time since Mike Rathje was placed on LTIR late in November of 2007, the Flyers are under the yearly salary cap.

This truly remarkable as the Flyers have gone over three full calendar years -- at least -- since they have been able to avoid using the Long-Term Injured Reserve. Have $4,000 in daily space? Use ALL of it to acquire a player via trade and not worry about incurring penalties the following year.

Even though the Flyers have Ian Laperriere on LTIR -- and probably will next year as well -- they are still $13,402 below the daily cap. Using this surplus, they were able to pay down all the debt incurred while they had Matt Walker and Michael Leighton on LTIR as well.

It's probably just a nominal achievement, but after having to constantly worry about the salary cap, shedding players for nothing due to mismanagement, and fretting over whether the team could afford to acquire a big salary at the deadline, the Flyers are finally here: The land of Cap Space.

Here's to you, Mr. Holmgren. And Mr. Rathje.