Pro Hockey Rumors’ Brian La Rose does a “deep dive” regarding the Red Wings’ salary cap situation going into the trade deadline, and he reports that between bonuses due to Patrick Kane and Simon Edvinsson, the Red Wings will have to decide whether they want to add at the deadline and defer said bonuses to the 2025-2026 season, or whether they’ll stand pat and eat the bonuses this year:
Detroit will hit the trade deadline with around $2MM in cap room (equivalent to over $9MM in room on deadline day), at least on paper. Knowing that [Patrick] Kane has hit $1.5MM of his bonuses already with a shot at a bit more and [Simon] Edvinsson being within striking distance of his $850K as well, that money is pretty much already accounted for unless they’re willing to take the overage penalty next season. How these next few weeks go will ultimately determine whether it’s worth adding and taking what’s likely to be a $2MM-plus penalty or if they should sell and finish the year with enough room to absorb those bonuses.
The Red Wings should have some flexibility moving forward though. They have around $25MM in room on next year’s cap with only seven or eight spots to fill and only one pricier player (Kane) to re-sign or replace. The following year, several of their pricier mid-tier contracts come off the books. Better days should be on the horizon from a cap perspective as a result.
Continued at length. Great analysis here…
