
What is the salary cap in the NHL?
The NHL uses a hard cap which means a team cannot exceed it and pay a penalty for doing so. However there is a hard low end that a team must pay as well. If either cap is not adhered to, players can get hit with up to $1 million and teams up to $5 million.
Can a player choose to stay on a salary cap team?
(NHL) Originally Answered: If a player wants to stay on a team that would otherwise go above the salary cap and doesn't mind being payed less, can he choose to stay? (NHL) Not if he’s already on a contract. There are two ways to not have to pay a player.
Do one-way contracts count against the NHL salary cap?
Players assigned to the minors, even if on one-way contracts, do not count against the NHL salary cap. However, the team still has to pay the player full-salary despite him playing in the AHL.
How do you go over the salary cap in the NFL?
Most of the answers here are accurate, there is generally no way to go over the cap — the league will void any transaction that takes the team over the salary cap. With ONE fairly narrow exception: performance bonuses. If a player meets a performance bonus that pushes a team over...

Can NHL teams be over the cap?
Teams are allowed to go above the cap ceiling by 10% in the offseason. They must be compliant before the regular season. Some teams will use Long Term Injured Reserve to grant temporary relief. The player has to be judged as unfit to play to do so.
How can an NHL team be over the salary cap?
Performance bonuses count towards the cap, although there is a percentage that a team is allowed to go over the cap in order to pay bonuses. A team must still factor in possible bonus payments, however, which could go over that percentage.
What happens when a team goes over the salary cap?
The NFL's cap is a hard cap that the teams have to stay under at all times, and the salary floor is also a hard floor. Penalties for violating or circumventing the cap regulations include fines of up to $5 million for each violation, cancellation of contracts and/or loss of draft picks.
Can you go over the salary cap in NHL playoffs?
On the one hand, there's the notion that the salary cap is tied to player compensation and the players' last paycheque comes at the end of the regular season. They don't get paid in the playoffs. So, therefore no cap in the playoffs.
Why is Tampa allowed to be over the cap?
The Tampa Bay Lightning cap is legally binding due to the fact there is no cap limit in the playoffs. There is no way to change this. In fact, people might not have a gripe about this but Kucherov has gone completely insane in the playoffs.
What team has the highest payroll in the NHL?
The team that spent the most on players' salaries over these nine seasons are the New York Rangers, who spent a total of $517,076,928 for players, averaging $57,452,992 per season. The Detroit Red Wings have the second highest total payroll over this period, with $483,801,165, for an average of $53,755,685 per season.
What is a dead cap hit?
CBS Sports reports that a dead cap hit is known in the NFL as "a salary cap charge for a player that is no longer on a team's roster." A dead cap hit came about because of "how salary cap accounting rules operate."
Does a signing bonus go against the cap?
Signing bonuses count against the team's cap. However, while the player gets the lump sum of the signing bonus upfront, the team, from a salary cap perspective, can spread out the signing bonus equally throughout the life of the player's contract—up to five years.
What is the point of a salary cap?
A salary cap is the maximum amount of money an employee can make in a particular role with a specific company. Sometimes, the government or another organization enforces these caps. For example, in professional sports, the league and the players' unions often work together to set a salary cap for each team.
What is the minimum salary cap in the NHL?
The NHL and NHLPA officially announced today that the league's payroll upper limit (salary cap) for next season would be $82.5MM. The league also announced that the lower limit, or salary floor, would be set at $61MM.
Why is the NHL salary cap so low?
The reason for this is that the amount of salary paid to the players for 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 far exceeds 50% of HRR. The players are deeply in debt — that's what escrow is, a fund to cover shortfalls on either side, and it's deep in the red on the player side.
How much cap space do NHL teams have?
The maximum salary cap figure for the 2022-23 NHL season is $82.5 million. The minimum cap figure is $60.2 million. The cap maximum increased by $1 million from the 2021-22 season, the first rise in three years.
Why are NHL players paid so little?
The main sources of revenue for a professional sports team are broadcasting rights for television and ticket sales. The NHL gets a much smaller amount of revenue from its TV deal than the NFL, MLB or NBA and, therefore, has less money to pay its players.
What is the NHL salary cap floor?
$61 millionThe NHL and NHL Players' Association officially announced that the salary-cap upper limit for the 2022-23 season is set at $82.5 million, the first time in three years it is increasing. That's an increase of $1 million over the 2021-22 season. The salary-cap floor for next season will be set at $61 million.
How much can you be over the cap in NHL?
NHL teams are allowed to be 10% over the cap during the off-season. Oct. 01 when the season starts they must be at or under the cap ceiling. The cap ceiling for the 2019–20 season is $81,500,000. If you have players that can go on LTIR (Long Term Injury Reserve) you want to be as close to or over the cap on Oct.01 so that when you put players on LTIR you maximize the amount of cap savings you can get. The Toronto Maple Leafs have two players who they will put on LTIR at the start of the season, Nathan Horton with a cap hit of $5,300,000 and Dave Clarkson with a cap hit of $5,250,000. The Leafs
How much cap penalty will the Penguins get in 2019-20?
Example here related to the Pittsburgh Penguins ( Penguins will carry a $132,500 salary cap penalty into the 2019-20 season )… as the story suggests, I would bet Jake Guentzel scoring 40 goals probably pushed them over, so they have a $130k (ish) hit against next year’s cap. Mike Peattie.
What happens if you run out of cap space?
If you do run out of cap space during the course of the year, you are forced to play with a shortened roster. That way your eligible roster was less expensive, to make up the difference.
How many repeats did the Penguins have in the 90s?
In the 90’s, you had two repeats: the Penguins in ’91 and ‘92, and the Red Wings in ’97 and ‘98. In the 80’s, you had five repeats (the Islanders won from ’80 to ‘83, and the Oilers won in ‘84, ‘85, ‘87, and ‘88).
Can you go over the cap in baseball?
Most of the answers here are accurate, there is generally no way to go over the cap — the league will void any transaction that takes the team over the salary cap.
Is the NHL an American league?
That the NHL fairly quickly became an American-dominated league, at least in terms of number of teams, and has remained that way, simply reflects reality: the United States is about ten times the size of Canada, and has far more metropolitan areas that are able to support a major league level sports team.
Can a team go over the cap?
Teams are literally unable to go over the cap. Before any trade or signing is completed, the contract is reviewed by the league, who calculates the salary cap implications for the team or teams involved. Each team has their own cap specialists, and of course do this calculation themselves beforehand. If the league deems the contract is not legal ...
How much can you be over the cap in NHL?
NHL teams are allowed to be 10% over the cap during the off-season. Oct. 01 when the season starts they must be at or under the cap ceiling. The cap ceiling for the 2019–20 season is $81,500,000. If you have players that can go on LTIR (Long Term Injury Reserve) you want to be as close to or over the cap on Oct.01 so that when you put players on LTIR you maximize the amount of cap savings you can get. The Toronto Maple Leafs have two players who they will put on LTIR at the start of the season, Nathan Horton with a cap hit of $5,300,000 and Dave Clarkson with a cap hit of $5,250,000. The Leafs are already over the cap ceiling as I write this, $83,659,699 for 24 players. You can only have a maximum of 23 players on the roster to start the season, but you can start the season with as few as 20.
How much is the 4th line rookie salary over the cap?
So, a 4th line rookie is dismissed from the team and the injured player returns with the team being $1.0+ over the cap.
How much does Evgeni Malkin make a year?
In June of 2013, Evgeni Malkin signed an eight-year contract with the Penguins for 13.5% of the salary cap each year, or $9,500,000.00 per year (on average).
How many repeats did the Penguins have in the 90s?
In the 90’s, you had two repeats: the Penguins in ’91 and ‘92, and the Red Wings in ’97 and ‘98. In the 80’s, you had five repeats (the Islanders won from ’80 to ‘83, and the Oilers won in ‘84, ‘85, ‘87, and ‘88).
Do you have to pay a player their full salary to play for the minors?
There’s another good trick - if you send an underperforming high salary player down to the minors, you still have to pay them their full salary, but it doesn’t count against the cap. Toronto media always wonders why that type of player is still on the Leafs’ roster when they should be on the Marlies’ roster. Toronto has plenty of money and the player wouldn’t even have to find a new house to live in - The Marlies play in Toronto too.
Did Montreal get draft preference in Francophile regions of Canada?
Things get worse the farther back you go, partially because there were only a few teams, and partially because Montreal got draft preference in Francophile regions of Canada. The 70’s were dominated by the Canadiens, the Bruins, and the Flyers. No one else won a Cup that decade. The 60’s (which took place before anyone but the Original Six had a shot at winning) had the Canadiens win five times, the Maple Leafs win four times, and the Blackhawks (then the “Black Hawks”) sneak in a win in ‘61.
Is it good to be in a competitive league?
A competitive League is good for everyone. When one team is the only team with a chance to win, that team’s fans might be really happy, but all the other teams get upset. And even that team’s fans get bored, or complacent. Then, when the team isn’t winning the way it used to, those fans tune out and leave in droves.
Why does the NHL have a salary cap?
Like many professional sports leagues, the NHL has a salary cap to keep teams in larger markets (with more revenue) from signing all of the top players and extending their advantage over smaller-market franchises.
What is the salary cap in the NHL?
The NHL salary cap is the total amount of money that National Hockey League (NHL) teams are allowed to pay their players. It is a "hard" salary cap, meaning there are no exemptions (and thus no luxury tax penalties are required).
What was the NHL collective bargaining agreement?
The negotiations for 2005–12 NHL Collective Bargaining Agreement revolved primarily around players' salaries. The league contended that its clubs spent about 75% of revenues on salaries; a percentage far higher than existed in other North American sports. NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman demanded "cost certainty" and presented the NHLPA with several concepts that the Players' Association considered nothing more than euphemisms for a salary cap, which it had vowed it would never accept; the previous collective bargaining agreement had expired on September 15, 2004.
Why was the NHL season cancelled?
A lockout ensued, leading to the cancellation of the entire 2004–05 NHL season, the first time a major sports league in North America had lost an entire season to a labor dispute. The lockout was resolved when the NHLPA agreed to a hard salary cap based on league revenues, although the NHL reciprocated by implementing revenue sharing which would allow for a higher cap figure.
How many seasons did the Maple Leafs lose?
The Maple Leafs, which had only ten losing seasons in its history before Ballard took control of the team in 1972, had 12 losing seasons up until his death in 1990. The 1994–95 NHL lockout was fought over the issue of the salary cap. The 1994–95 season was only partially cancelled, with 48 games and the playoffs eventually being played.
What is the difference between salary cap and payroll?
The difference between the salary cap and a team's actual payroll is referred to as the team's " payroll room " or "cap room". Each year of an NHL player contract, the salary earned contributes to the team's "cap hit".
How long can a free agent stay in the NHL?
There are several kinds of NHL free agency, but generally the free agent pool in the NHL is split into restricted and unrestricted free agents. All contract signings can be of up to seven years (eight if re-signing with their current club) as long as the averaged annual salary (plus bonuses) will fit under the team's salary cap, and the 50-contract limit is not exceeded.
How much is the NHL salary cap?
In the era of the salary cap ($64,300,000 this season), some NHL teams must juggle with numbers to find a way to stay under the maximum salary payroll allowed by the league and be cap-compliant. Before we have a look at the different ways teams have found to circumvent the salary cap, let’s have a look at different pieces of information about the matter:
What counts against the cap in NHL?
DURING THE SEASON#N#During the season anyone on a team’s NHL roster counts against the cap. This includes players on the Active Roster, Injured Reserve, Injured Non-Roster and Non-Roster. It also includes players who have a “bona-fide long-term injury” or LTIR as well as players sent to the minors on conditioning assignments (Antero Niittymaki for example) and players placed on waivers (Wade Redden for example) (until such time that they have cleared waivers and are assigned to the AHL). Also included are any deferred salary and bonuses earned as a result of playing in a league year under the new CBA, and any ordinary buyouts (George Laraque for example).
How long was Christian Ehrhoff on the Sabres?
The Buffalo Sabres also used this strategy when they signed rearguard Christian Ehrhoff to a 10-year $40-million contract for a yearly cap hit of $4MM over the entire 10 years.
How much can a team replace an injured player?
The team can replace the injured player with a player with a salary that is lower or equal to that of the injured player. In addition, from July 1 to the last day of training camp, teams may exceed the Upper Limit by no more than 10%. Teams must also consider performance or signing bonuses earned by players when calculating ...
How old was the German blue liner when he signed his contract?
The German blue-liner was 29 years old when he signed the contract, so he would have to play until he is 39 to fulfill the whole contract. 4. Loan a player to an independent team overseas: A team is entitled to loan one of its player under contract to an independent team overseas for the remainder of his contract.
When can a team exceed the upper limit?
From the last day of training camp until June 30, the only time teams may exceed the Upper Limit is if a player is placed on the LTIR (Ian Laperriere for example) and replacing the player would put the team over the Upper Limit. The team can replace the injured player with a player with a salary that is lower or equal to that of the injured player. In addition, from July 1 to the last day of training camp, teams may exceed the Upper Limit by no more than 10%.
Does a minors contract count against the NHL salary cap?
Bury a player’s contract into the minors (AHL): Players assigned to the minors, even if on one- way contracts, do not count against the NHL salary cap. However, the team still has to pay the player full-salary despite him playing in the AHL.
What Is the NHL Salary Cap?
The NHL salary cap is the total amount that NHL teams may pay for players. The amount set as the salary cap each year depends on the league’s revenue for the previous season. As it is a 'hard cap,' there are no exemptions. However, if a player is injured and it's thought that they will miss at least 10 NHL games and 24 days in the season, their team can put them on long-term injured reserve (LTIR). By doing so, they can surpass the salary cap.
What is the salary cap in the NHL?
What Is the NHL Salary Cap? The NHL salary cap is the total amount that NHL teams may pay for players. The amount set as the salary cap each year depends on the league’s revenue for the previous season. As it is a 'hard cap,' there are no exemptions.
How much is the NHL cap?
The salary cap was set to $60 million, but NHL hockey teams were allowed to spend a pro-rated $70.2 million for the shortened season. The salary floor (the minimum that a team must spend as a whole) is 85 percent of the salary midpoint. For the 2019-20 season, the cap floor is $60.24 million.
Why did the Red Wings have a salary cap?
The salary cap was introduced to prevent teams with the most revenue signing all the top players , which was becoming a problem in the '90s and early 2000s. For instance, by signing a number of top-performing players and significantly spending more than the majority of other teams, the Detroit Red Wings were able to win three Stanley Cups in that time.
How many NHL teams were there in 1974?
In 1974, six more NHL hockey teams joined the league, creating 18 in total. The league then took four teams from the World Hockey Association when it ceased to exist in 1979. With the Cleveland Barons gone in 1978, this brought the total to 21 teams.
What is Puckpedia hockey?
Tune in to learn about developments in the league, your favorite NHL teams and players. PuckPedia brings you up to speed on the latest news and other exciting developments in the world of NHL hockey. Bookmark PuckPedia now!

What Is The NHL's Salary Cap?
- There is a maximum cap for a team in the 2021-22 season and it's $81.5 million, while the minimum cap is $60.2 million. Next season, the salary cap will go up $1 million to $82.5 million.
What Counts Towards The NHL's Salary Cap?
- When it comes to the salary cap, there are a number of factors that contribute to it. Any player that is on the NHL roster has what is referred to as an AAV (annual average value). It's calculated by adding up the contract's total salary and signing bonuses, divided by the number of years in a contract. That goes towards a team's cap hit. Any player on an AHL roster with an AAV of over $…
What Does Not Count Towards The NHL's Salary Cap?
- If a player is on a two-way contract and is in the AHL, that does not count, nor does any player on a one-way playing in the AHL that carries an AAV of $1.075 million or less. Prospects playing in juniors or overseas in Europe that are under contract do not count, nor do players that are suspended for off-ice events. Finally, if a player signed a multi-year deal before the age of 35 an…
Does The NHL Have A Hard Cap?
- Yes, at no point in the regular season can a team go over the cap. Leagues like the NBA have a salary cap, but also allow teams to go and then pay a luxury tax penalty. That's not how it goes in the NHL. No teams can go over the limit, resulting in teams at times having to play shorthanded if injuries/illness occur and a player suitable to fit under the cap cannot be recalled in time.
What Is Long-Term Injured Reserve?
- When a player is hurt and is going to be out for a long period of time, a team will place them on the long-term injured reserve (LTIR). That helps their cap situation a bit, but it's not as simple as removing the money from the books. Instead, a team is allowed to exceed the cap, using what is referred to as the "LTIR pool." If a player carries a $5 million cap hit and is going to be placed on …
Overview
The NHL salary cap is the total amount of money that National Hockey League (NHL) teams are allowed to pay their players. It is a "hard" salary cap, meaning there are no exemptions (and thus no luxury tax penalties are required).
Like many professional sports leagues, the NHL has a salary cap to keep teams in larger markets (with more revenue) from signing all of the top players and extending their advantage over small…
Pre-salary cap
Prior to the resolution of the 2004–05 lockout, the NHL was the only major North American professional sports league that had no luxury tax, very limited revenue sharing and no salary cap.
During the "Original Six" era through to the early years of the expansion era, the NHL's strict reserve clause negated the need for a salary cap. Player salaries first became an issue in the 1970s, after Alan Eagleson founded the National Hockey League Players' Association (NHLPA) and the upstart World …
Salary cap
The negotiations for 2005–12 NHL Collective Bargaining Agreement revolved primarily around players' salaries. The league contended that its clubs spent about 75% of revenues on salaries; a percentage far higher than existed in other North American sports. NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman demanded "cost certainty" and presented the NHLPA with several concepts that the Players' Association considered nothing more than euphemisms for a salary cap, which it had vo…
Waivers
Waivers are discussed in article 13 of the collective bargaining agreement. Unlike other professional leagues, waivers in the NHL do not always mean an unconditional release if a player clears waivers and elects free agency, unless the waivers requested were unconditional waivers. Most NHL players will need to clear waivers before they are assigned to a minor league team; exceptions are listed below. Clearing waivers means every other team in the NHL has the option …
Trades and salary retention
Prior to the reintroduction of the cap, it was fairly common (especially for wealthier teams) to include cash as part of a trade and/or retain some or most of a player's salary when trading him to another team. This was usually done when the club needed roster space for (an)other player(s) and could afford the extra costs. Under the terms of the 2005 collective bargaining agreement, when a team traded for another player, it assumed the full cap hit and remaining salary obligatio…
Free agency
There are several kinds of NHL free agency, but generally the free agent pool in the NHL is split into restricted and unrestricted free agents. All contract signings can be of up to seven years (eight if re-signing with their current club) as long as the averaged annual salary (plus bonuses) will fit under the team's salary cap, and the 50-contract limit is not exceeded.
On July 1 of a given year, the following players become unrestricted free agents, free to sign wit…
Contracts and contract limits
There are several parameters that each NHL team must consider when comprising a roster. A maximum of 20 players (18 skaters and 2 goaltenders) can dress for a game. Additional restrictions are as follows.
• During the NHL regular season, a team may have a maximum of 23 players on the active roster, except for the period from December 19 to December 27, during which no player may be assigne…
Buy-outs
Guaranteed player contracts in the NHL differ from other leagues, notably the National Football League, where teams may opt out of the salary obligations of a contract by waiving or cutting a player. NHL teams may buy-out player's contracts, but must still pay a portion of the base salary still owed which along with the associated cap hit is spread out over twice the remaining duration of the contract. As further discussed below, buy-outs do not provide a club with either financial o…