NHL salary cap grows, but not as much as anticipated

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The good news is that the NHL salary cap will be moving up.

The bad news is that the ceiling won’t be as high as it was once hoped after the NHL and NHLPA announced the salary cap ceiling for the 2015-16 season will be $71.4 million.

For the Bruins and GM Don Sweeney, that gives the organization concrete boundaries to work with for a roster that’s got $64.75 million already committed to 17 players, including $4 million for Marc Savard that will come off the books once he’s placed on long-term injured reserve.

That leaves a shade under $11 million in cap space to sign restricted free agents Dougie Hamilton, Ryan Spooner and Brett Connolly, add at least one forward and defenseman and potentially find a veteran backup goaltender for Tuukka Rask. Considering that Hamilton’s final number could come in between $6-7 million per season, that isn’t enough money to fill out the rest of the roster and give Sweeney the flexibility he’ll need to get through the season.

The cap situation for the Black and Gold leaves them looking to get money off their books, a plight that many other NHL teams are experiencing this week as trade talks ramp up prior to the NHL Draft this weekend in Florida. The Bruins have already told free agents to be Gregory Campbell, Daniel Paille, Carl Soderberg and Matt Bartkowski that they won’t be coming back due to salary cap circumstances, and now come the trade discussions.

“[There are] a lot of conversations with all the teams, everybody sort of trying to get a real good solid view of the landscape ahead of each and every one of us heading into the draft. It’s a testament - I’ll give you a little context - it’s a testament to Steve Yzerman and Stan Bowman to be calling teams right after a win and a loss,” said Sweeney last week in a pre-draft conference call. “That says a lot about those guys in general, but it also speaks to the importance of this time of the year.”

The cap situation speaks to the Bruins moving some players off their roster this summer for salary cap relief. Milan Lucic has already been mentioned in several potential deals, and Loui Eriksson, Chris Kelly, Dennis Seidenberg are also expected to be in play as the B’s reshape a roster that missed the playoffs last season.

The NHL and the NHL Players’ Association announced that the Lower Limit will be $52.8 million, an Adjusted Midpoint will be $62.1 million and an Upper Limit of $71.4 million is the maximum teams can spend.

 

 

 

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