In today's National Hockey League, nearly all significant organizational moves are made during the summer months.
The salary-cap system sets up chain reactions for virtually all transactions. Every trade and player signing impacts the associated teams' cap situations, which then trigger additional moves.
The game for every general manager is to maximize talent and create the right roster balance while staying within cap limitations—and finding creative ways to work around the rules when things get dicey.
As we close in on the end of July, most of summer's main moves are now complete. The expansion draft, the entry draft and free agency are all in the rearview mirror, and the arbitration process is grinding along, with teams and players reaching settlements before they have to go eyeball-to-eyeball at their scheduled hearings.