Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff discusses the Red Wings’ status as being far below the salary cap’s upper limit this season, noting that a rebuilding team is less likely to bump up to what is currently a flat cap in the NHL:
“I certainly would say that cap space has a definite value in the game today,” [coach Jeff] Blashill said. “Obviously, you’ve seen it used for trades and things like that. But it also has value where you don’t want to be in the position where you have to make roster decisions based on our cap.”
According to Puckpedia.com, the Red Wings have $12,464,443 in available cap space. Only two teams – the Columbus Blue Jackets and Buffalo Sabres – show more.
“And that means we don’t necessarily need to keep somebody up based on our cap like some teams do at times,” Blashill explained. “We certainly never need to play short like some teams have been forced to do and maybe sign players that we wouldn’t sign otherwise.
“I think there’s definitely an advantage to having cap flexibility. I think it’s been an interesting observation over the last five years or so, how important cap space has become to some teams, how valuable it has been at times.”
NHL salary numbers show 15 teams, including the Maple Leafs, with no cap space whatsoever. Another four teams show less than $1 million in available space. The Avalanche are among this latter group. There are also eight NHL clubs operating with less than a full 23-player contingent due to cap constraints.
