Penguins Update: Capping Off a Turbulent Week

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)