13 NHL teams facing cap penalties: are the Leafs in the clear?

The salary cap for the 2024-25 season is expected to rise over 4 million dollars and while it's a time to rejoice for many, there are a slew of NHL clubs that will be entering the off-season with cap overages that will limit their expenditures - however for some, it was planned.

There are currently 11 NHL clubs that have overage penalties with another 2 teams that could enter the fray depending on how far they advance in this year's Stanley Cup Playoffs. Frank Seravalli of the Daily Faceoff pointed out that for the first time in league history, there will be multiple teams carrying more than 2 million in overage penalties. Additionally there are 3 more teams that exceeded 1 million dollars:

Edmonton Oilers: $3.45 million
Dallas Stars: $2.595 million
Washington Capitals: $2.2525 million
Los Angeles Kings: $1.85 million
New Jersey Devils: $1.539 million
Montreal Canadiens $1.022 million

This is the first time the salary cap has had a significant increase since the 2019-20 season and it seems like a lot of the teams with severe overages were planning on it. Seravalli mentions that the Edmonton Oilers signed players like Connor Brown and Corey Perry to bonus-heavy contracts with the intention of "pre-spending their increase this season."


For example, on top of the $3.45 million, the Oilers are on the hook for an additional $50,000 if they advance to the Conference Final and the Stanley Cup Final as advised in Perry's contract.

Then you have teams like the Minnesota Wild who are on the hook for way more than overages. They are currently hit with $425,000 in overages and it can increase additionally by $212,500 if Marco Rossi is voted to the All-Rookie team. That is substantial when you consider they will be carrying $14.7 million in dead cap due to the buyouts of Zach Parise and Ryan Suter. When all is said and done, they are due to enter the off-season with a salary cap threshold of $72,571,312.

As for the Toronto Maple Leafs, a team that holds the record for the largest salary cap carryover of $5,370,000 from the 2017-18 season, they will enter the off-season with zero overages, which is great news considering they will need every penny available to construct their Stanley Cup aspiring roster.

Source:
Daily Faceoff: Oilers, Stars and Capitals among 11 teams with record salary cap overages for 2024-25