The Washington Capitals are in an interesting spot regarding the salary cap.
The NHL raised the cap by $4.5 million to $88 million for this upcoming season and the Capitals are currently using all of that extra flexibility and then some.
Washington was nearly $14.17 million over the cap after adding seven new players to their NHL roster over the offseason. With Nicklas Backstrom ($9.2M) on long-term injured reserve next season, the Capitals would be $4.97 million over the salary cap. With TJ Oshie ($5.75M) and Backstrom on LTIR, they’d be cap-compliant by $780k.
Now, after Evgeny Kuznetsov’s mutual contract termination with the Carolina Hurricanes, the Capitals are no longer on the hook for the $3.9 million cap hit they retained on Kuznetsov’s contract this season when they sent him to the Canes for a 2025 third-round draft selection at last season’s trade deadline.
This gives the Capitals much more wiggle room and an Oshie return next season is actually viable — if at all possible health-wise.
The #ALLCAPS have a projected $102M Cap Hit, which is $14.2M over the cap.
They can start season up to $9.2M over the cap with Backstrom placed on LTIR, meaning they have $5M of space to create.https://t.co/WYTgGbMnSv pic.twitter.com/cjwhM4GNkg
— PuckPedia (@PuckPedia) July 1, 2024
With Kuznetsov leaving for the KHL, the Capitals added his $3.9 million back onto their ledger which represented 4.4 percent of their spending against the cap. The Capitals are “just” $10.3 million over the cap and with their expected Backstrom/Oshie savings, could start the season with around $4.65 million in cap room.
If Oshie doesn’t call it quits and tries to make a comeback from his back injury, the Capitals would only need to free up an additional $1.1 million in cap space compared to the $5 million before Kuznetsov terminated his deal in Carolina.
Regardless of what happens with Oshie, the Capitals get back one of their three salary retention slots which could prove huge if the team falters in the regular season again and needs to sell at the 2025 deadline.
After Kuznetsov & CAR mutually terminated his contract, #ALLCAPS no longer have his $3.9M retained cap hit.
As a result, they are $10.27M over cap with 22 active players (12F/8D/2G) + Injured & Potential LTIR Backstrom $9.2M & Oshie $5.75Mhttps://t.co/q0n4sC7nOn
— PuckPedia (@PuckPedia) July 17, 2024
The extra $4.65 million, if Oshie lands on LTIR, should allow the Capitals to carry a full, 23-man roster, make injury replacement recalls from Hershey, and potentially add another player in free agency before Training Camp. Washington could choose to be active on the early-season waiver wire when teams make cuts coming out of the preseason as well.
General manager Chris Patrick also now has a complete idea of the space he’ll have to start the season if he chooses to make a trade before the fall.
