In the flat cap world, nearly every team in the league is dealing with situations that require every last dollar under the ceiling. More than half the league was using long-term injured reserve relief at some point this season, a decision that sometimes comes with some attached risk. One of those risks is the performance bonuses from entry-level contracts, which can cause overage penalties if achieved by the end of the season should a team not have the cap space to fit them in. Those penalties are then applied to the following season’s cap, meaning they have less room to work with moving forward.
CapFriendly calculated the overage penalties for the entire league, finding 14 of 32 teams that will face them next year. Notably, these penalties lower the cap ceiling for a team and therefore cannot be covered up by going into long-term injured relief again. The penalties are as follows:
- Carolina Hurricanes: $112,500
- Chicago Blackhawks: $237,500
- Colorado Avalanche: $25,000
- Dallas Stars: $675,000
- Edmonton Oilers: $896,000
- Florida Panthers: $637,500
- Los Angeles Kings: $637,500
- Montreal Canadiens: $1,132,500
- New York Islanders $245,796
- Philadelphia Flyers: $295,000
- St. Louis Blues: $1,000,000*
- Toronto Maple Leafs: $212,500
- Vancouver Canucks: $1,250,000
- Washington Capitals: $100,000
*Can still increase
Details on how each number was reached can be found on CapFriendly’s Twitter thread, but the vast majority are from Schedule A performance bonuses for time on ice and games played. While some would argue that it is worth the penalty, as it means a young player has been a strong contributor, it can also be quite impactful moving forward. The Oilers, for instance, are facing a cap charge of nearly $900K, significantly more than the league minimum salary. It could very well mean they aren’t able to carry the maximum of 23 skaters for at least parts of next season while they are still trying to compete, thanks to the bonuses owed to Evan Bouchard this year.
The Islanders are perhaps the most interesting case since they did not finish in LTIR relief and, in fact, were more than $2M under the $81.5M ceiling at the end of the year. While most of the other bonuses were on entry-level contracts, theirs included games played bonuses for Zach Parise, Zdeno Chara and Andy Greene. That means despite being well out of the race, the Islanders will have a little less room to work with next season.
The Blues meanwhile could still face an additional overage, as their penalty is based on the bonuses given to Tyler Bozak. He can still earn $100K if the Blues win the first round and another $150K if they win the second round, which each would also be applied to next year’s cap.
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