Good update from PuckDaddy on potentially painful arbitration cases yesterday and of course Wheeler is in the mix.

With Clark Freaking MacArthur being awarded $2.4M on 7/21, it looks bad for Wheels being A - cheap for the B's  B- on the B's at all.

Consider Clark Freaking MacArthur:

25 years old, played 208 games in 5yrs and collected:

88 pts (never over 20 goals or 40 pts in any season)

-13 +/-

9 PPG / 1SHG

.145 pct

Wheeler is 24, has played 163 games in 2yrs and collected:

83 pts

32 +/-

6 PPG / 3 SHG

.126 pct

According to Capgeek, MacArthur made $1.4M for '09-'10.  If those stats are worth a 40% raise to $2.4M for Clarke, it's very hard for me to see Wheeler getting anything less the $3.3M in Aribtration. That would be a 20% raise for Wheeler and as much as I'd like the B's to keep him, doing so would put the B's in a tough spot.

They have flexibility through November due to Sturm's injury, but the ability to strike a deal that would be a benefit to the B's gets significantly more difficult when all other teams are aware of their financial pinch and the timing they are operating under.

Seguin's deal if also in the mix here, but I don't see it being a major issue by comparison to Blake's contract.  Seguin is likely to be $900k base plus bonuses to get toward $3.5M.  I'd be surprised if he got beyond $2M total in '10, though that depends on how the bonuses are structured.   I'm not positive but I believe only the $900k would count against the cap for '10 until the end of the season.

So there are decisions for PC and the B's come this weekend.  What to do, what to do.  

How about a poll?