Going into the trade deadline, an organization’s space under the salary cap can be just as important as the assets they have to trade. A contender may have the desire to improve their team—and they may even be willing to part with prospects/draft picks to make a run in the playoffs. But if they haven’t planned ahead and lack salary cap space, all the desire in the world won’t untie their hands at the trade deadline.
Here’s a list of all 30 NHL teams and the space they have under the cap. In addition to the space they have under the cap, we’ve translated that number to the amount of annual salary their acquisitions can earn. For example, the Minnesota Wild have $1.88 million of actual money under the salary cap which means they can sign someone (or combination of players) who makes an annual salary of $9.05 million.
| Team | CAP SPACE | MAX ANNUAL CONTRACT |
| Anaheim Ducks | $ 3.36 | $ 16.28 |
| Atlanta Thrashers | $ 9.75 | $ 47.04 |
| Boston Bruins | $ 0.10 | $ 0.50 |
| Buffalo Sabres | $ 1.80 | $ 8.71 |
| Calgary Flames | $ 1.80 | $ 8.70 |
| Carolina Hurricanes | $ 1.71 | $ 8.25 |
| Chicago Blackhawks | $ 0.53 | $ 2.57 |
| Colorado Avalanche | $ 8.10 | $ 39.10 |
| Columbus Blue Jackets | $ 9.14 | $ 44.07 |
| Dallas Stars | $ 8.92 | $ 43.02 |
| Detroit Red Wings | $ 0.01 | $ 0.05 |
| Edmonton Oilers | $ 1.36 | $ 6.56 |
| Florida Panthers | $ 4.19 | $ 20.23 |
| Los Angeles Kings | $ 7.29 | $ 35.17 |
| Minnesota Wild | $ 1.88 | $ 9.05 |
| Montreal Canadiens | $ 0.65 | $ 3.11 |
| Nashville Predators | $ 13.53 | $ 65.26 |
| New Jersey Devils | $ 2.20 | $ 10.61 |
| New York Rangers | $ 0.08 | $ 0.40 |
| New York Islanders | $ 17.99 | $ 86.79 |
| Ottawa Senators | $ 1.35 | $ 6.51 |
| Philadelphia Flyers | $ – 0.05 | $ - |
| Phoenix Coyotes | $ 15.99 | $ 77.16 |
| Pittsburgh Penguins | $ 0.73 | $ 3.55 |
| San Jose Sharks | $ 0.34 | $ 1.63 |
| St Louis Blues | $ 9.85 | $ 47.53 |
| Tampa Bay Lightning | $ 9.58 | $ 46.20 |
| Toronto Maple Leafs | $ 1.33 | $ - |
| Vancouver Canucks | $ 0.54 | $ 2.59 |
| Washington Capitals | $ 4.04 | $ 19.47 |
Cap space and max salaries are in millions of dollars
(All cap figures come courtesy of CapGeek.com)
Matt Reitz
Matt Reitz is an NHL Writer for ProHockeyTalk on NBCSports and the Editor-In-Chief here at ViewFromMySeats.com. When he's not shoving a mic in the face of NHLers or explaining why home teams should wear white, he's usually trying to figure out what song to play next on his iPod. It's a never-ending job.
