The salary cap will be somewhat different in the NHL this season

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Jeff Drouin
September 11, 2022 (1:06 PM)

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The rules surrounding the NHL salary cap are complex. A new technicality will make it even more difficult to understand for those who are not in the business every day.

As PuckPedia mentions, the cap amount per day will show this season compared to last year. But in the end, the cumulative amount will be less, enough to cause even more headaches for the league's GMs and their salary cap specialists.

"This season will have 185 days for salary cap purposes. Last season had 200 days because of the Olympic break.

Fewer days means each day is worth more, and therefore cap space accumulated per day is worth more.

It also means that accumulated space offers less benefit at the deadline."

During the season, the cap will be in effect for 15 fewer days than last year because of the Olympic break, which is not present this season. This means that each "cap day" is worth more than last year. This means that when teams accumulate cap space this year, it is worth more than last season.

It also means that teams trying to accumulate cap space for the trade deadline don't have the same advantages as last year. Explained here:

"A team with $1 million in projected cap space can add $4.5 million in annual cap space at the deadline this year versus $5 million at the deadline last year.

1 day of $1 million in cap space this year saves $5,405 in final cap space versus $5,000 last year."

This could be good for the competitive balance across the league and it could prevent some teams from circumventing the cap, exactly as they have in recent years. Every year though, teams get more and more creative in blurring the lines between what's legal and what's not. We'll see how it plays out next season.

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