The NHL Offseason has reached the point where things are slowing to a crawl after the initial rush of the free agency period that opened on July 1st.
Over the years, we’ve seen a lot of July 1 mistakes made where a team overspends for players, and then in a year or two they look to get out of their contract with someone else. However, in this season without a strong free agent class, one thing noticed was how tight the teams were with their checkbook.
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A big reason for that is the salary cap. As announced prior to the NHL Draft, the salary cap had only increased by $1 million this year from $82.5 million to $83.5 million. While the number may seem large to the average person, in the world of the NHL it is not much at all.
And so we’ve seen teams before the start of the NHL’s free agency find new ways to find the extra money needed to keep their team together. Some teams have been luckier than others, but most of the teams competing or making the playoffs from a year ago were up against the salary cap.
And so we’ve seen teams like the Tampa Bay Lightning, Boston Bruins, and New York Rangers sign players to minimum league deals to fill out their roster. For example, the COVID salary cap was hit hardest by the lightning. Over the years, we’ve seen them lose players like Ryan McDonaghAnd Corey PerryAnd Pat Maron via trade with Ondrej Balat And Alex Killorn Departure via free agency.
This is because the NHL salary cap is the biggest winner in the free agency period. It’s not one team. Although some teams have made good deals adding some nice players. However, the salary cap limited what other teams could do. Thus, those competing teams scratch and fumble to find the extra dollar.
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Teams in the off-season can exceed the salary cap by 10 percent. However, once the season begins, they must stick to the limit. And then the salary cap goes into the playoffs. And while fans deal with some teams’ cases about using LTIR (Long Term Injured Reserve), it’s all legal in the CBA (Collective Bargaining Agreement).
But back to the NHL Free Agency for a minute. We’ve seen a team like the New Jersey Devils that had $34 million in cap space dwindle to about $5.6 million due to players re-signed (Jesper Pratt And Timo Meyer) And Trade for in Tyler Tufoli And Colin Miller. Other teams such as the Chicago Blackhawks, Arizona Coyotes, and Anaheim Ducks sign larger contracts with players just to get to the cover floor.
Then there are the players betting on themselves and looking forward to when the salary cap for next year’s NHL free agency period will rise. Take examples Tyler BertuzziAnd Max DomiAnd Dmitry OrlovAnd Jason Zucker. There are others who have done the same or have only been offered one-year deals due to the salary cap, but let’s focus on those players for a minute.
These four players all wanted long-term deals, but instead opted for one-year deals with good money. Although all four players wanted a better AAV in their contract, the salary cap wouldn’t allow it. The exception may be Orloff, who earned $7.75 million on an unmanned aerial vehicle with the Carolina Hurricanes over two years. But again it’s only a two year contract. He was looking for a longer deal with the Washington Capitals and the Boston Bruins could not afford him.
The salary cap also affects the potential trades we thought we’d see during the NHL Draft and free agency starts. Yes, Ryan JohansenAnd Kevin HayesAnd Pierre Luc Dubois, and moved Toffoli. However, three of those trading teams didn’t really get anything in return. Dubois traded Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff got as much as he could get, but the return value wasn’t equal to Dubois’ talent.
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thus Conor HellbwickAnd John GibsonAnd Alex DeBrinkat It has not been transferred yet. Teams are trying to figure out ways to get their contracts and what the extensions will be like not knowing how much the salary cap will increase over the next several seasons. This is another reason why We haven’t seen yet Vladimir Tarasenko And Dumbaa died He signed with a team so far. Not to mention the other notable players still on the free agent market.
However, the Vegas Golden Knights find a way. So it can be done. But in the current world the NHL lives in, not a single team has won the NHL free agency. It was Commissioner Gary Pittman’s salary cap that did it.