There’s an old adage…idle hands are the devil’s workshop. Well, the same goes for idle minds. With nothing in particular to occupy mine, I decided to take a look at where our Penguins stand in available cap space relative to the rest of the league.
It was eye-opening. With roughly $2.6 million of available cap space as of Friday evening, we rank 23rd. We’re in good shape compared to teams like Vegas, Chicago, Dallas and Tampa Bay who sit above the $81.5 cap limit. But we trail most of the teams in the league, including our Metro Division rivals. Some by a wide margin. For example, the nettlesome Islanders have over $17 million in available cap space; the emerging Rangers over $13 million.
The numbers did give me a greater appreciation for the challenges facing Pens general manager Ron Hextall. Simply put, he has very little wiggle room. A legacy of Jim Rutherford taking on salary and handing out rather lavish contracts to emerging but still largely unproven talents like John Marino and Marcus Pettersson. And while I don’t agree with Hextall’s choice of free agents…he should’ve focused his available dollars on adding a functional physical presence…period…I get that we simply aren’t in a position to compete with other clubs for high-profile talent. At least not without swinging a cap-clearing trade or two.
Although there’s always hope that cap-space rich and talent-poor clubs like Detroit and/or Buffalo will help us in that endeavor, I’m not holding my breath.
Without further ado, here’s how we stack up against our NHL brethren according to CapFriendly.
| Rank | Team | Current Cap Hit | Current Cap Space | Contracts | Avg. Contract Value |
| 1 | Detroit | $50,972,223 | $30,527,777 | 18 | $2,831,790 |
| 2 | Ottawa | $51,748,333 | $29,751,667 | 20 | $2,587,417 |
| 3 | Buffalo | $52,897,763 | $28,602,237 | 20 | $2,644,888 |
| 4 | New Jersey | $60,257,235 | $21,242,765 | 18 | $3,347,624 |
| 5 | Nashville | $61,491,143 | $20,008,857 | 19 | $3,236,376 |
| 6 | Minnesota | $61,785,255 | $19,714,745 | 17 | $3,634,427 |
| 7 | Anaheim | $63,820,000 | $17,680,000 | 17 | $3,754,118 |
| 8 | NY Islanders | $63,829,188 | $17,670,812 | 18 | $3,546,066 |
| 9 | Seattle | $65,106,666 | $16,393,334 | 19 | $3,426,667 |
| 10 | Vancouver | $67,435,659 | $14,064,341 | 22 | $3,065,257 |
| 11 | Carolina | $67,573,583 | $13,926,417 | 20 | $3,378,679 |
| 12 | NY Rangers | $67,837,302 | $13,662,698 | 24 | $2,826,554 |
| 13 | Calgary | $69,325,000 | $12,175,000 | 17 | $4,077,941 |
| 14 | Columbus | $70,115,862 | $11,384,138 | 25 | $2,804,634 |
| 15 | Arizona | $71,628,617 | $9,871,383 | 20 | $3,581,431 |
| 16 | Philadelphia | $73,489,523 | $8,010,477 | 21 | $3,499,501 |
| 17 | Florida | $73,669,622 | $7,830,378 | 24 | $3,069,568 |
| 18 | Winnipeg | $73,784,645 | $7,715,355 | 16 | $4,611,540 |
| 19 | St. Louis | $75,168,849 | $6,331,151 | 20 | $3,758,442 |
| 20 | San Jose | $75,963,334 | $5,536,666 | 21 | $3,617,302 |
| 21 | Colorado | $76,369,797 | $5,130,203 | 20 | $3,818,490 |
| 22 | Washington | $78,831,260 | $2,668,740 | 20 | $3,941,563 |
| 23 | Pittsburgh | $78,903,205 | $2,596,795 | 21 | $3,757,295 |
| 24 | Los Angeles | $79,509,588 | $1,990,412 | 24 | $3,312,900 |
| 25 | Edmonton | $80,298,968 | $1,201,032 | 22 | $3,649,953 |
| 26 | Boston | $80,410,674 | $1,089,326 | 23 | $3,496,116 |
| 27 | Toronto | $80,644,783 | $855,217 | 23 | $3,506,295 |
| 28 | Montreal | $81,476,370 | $23,630 | 21 | $3,879,827 |
| 29 | Vegas | $81,537,439 | ($37,439)* | 20 | $4,076,872 |
| 30 | Chicago | $82,167,547 | ($667,547)* | 22 | $3,734,889 |
| 31 | Dallas | $83,422,072 | ($1,922,072)* | 22 | $3,791,912 |
| 32 | Tampa Bay | $87,240,955 | ($5,740,955)* | 21 | $4,154,331 |
| *Over the cap limit due to Long-Term Injured Reserve (LTIR) | |||||
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