Contenders are adding as many impact players as they can without going over the threshold, while non-playoff teams are taking on contracts at times just to hit the bare minimum.
It can be a complicated process to understand how much or little cap room your favorite NHL team has. Even the smartest of GMs sometimes screw it up (looking at you Vegas).
Here is a breakdown of the teams with the lowest and highest projected cap hits by the end of the season.
MORE: NHL salary cap rules, explained: Everything you need to know about cap space in the NHL
What is projected cap space?
Projected cap space is defined as the expected space a team will have at the season’s end based on the current annual average values of the contracts of the players on the roster. So this assumes that a team’s roster will not change from now until the end of the season.
That obviously is usually not the case as injuries and call-ups/demotions occur so the projected cap space fluctuates, but it is a good indicator as to how much money a team has left to spend.
Which teams have the lowest and highest projected cap space?
There are a number of teams who are really, really doing everything they can to stay cap-compliant.
In fact, nine teams have a projected cap space of $0. Nothing, zilch, nada. They are using every last cent they can with their current roster.
Some of these teams are playoff squads that are fitting as much as they can underneath the salary cap, while others are teams carrying dead cap space, meaning it’s for players no longer on the roster.
It’s always good to take a look at where teams stand after the trade deadline. Here is a look at all of the teams and their projected cap space at the end of the season as of March 22.
