Carolina Hurricanes: How a Flat Cap Could Affect Spending

The Carolina Hurricanes may have to move forward with a flat cap.

With speculation of a flat cap of around $82 million, what would that mean for the NHL? How would that affect the Carolina Hurricanes and their offseason spending?

As attempts to extend the current CBA move forward, one thing that has been brought up is introducing a flat cap. That means the salary cap would stay stagnant over the period of time the CBA is in place. It is expected to be set around $82 million.

Like any discussion involving the CBA, this is what is being thrown out there now. Things can change as discussions progress. How would a flat cap affect the Carolina Hurricanes?

The Hurricanes do have money coming off the books as the buyout of Patrick Marleau will be completed. That will free up $6.25 million. Also, players like Sami Vatanen, Trevor van Riemsdyk, Joel Edmundson, and Justin Williams are set to become unrestricted free agents. Warren Foegele and Haydn Fleury will be restricted free agents.

With a salary cap at $83 million, this would leave the Hurricanes with roughly $10 million in cap space. The Hurricanes will most likely part with Edmundson and with the depth at defense Vatanen and even van Riemsdyk futures in Carolina are up in the air.

The Hurricanes should focus on retaining Fleury and Foegele. They will be relatively cheap, but these are two players that have shown improvement over the course of their tenure.

Justin Williams would be a welcome addition back if he were to decide he doesn’t want to hang the skates up just yet. He would be another cheaper option the team can explore in free agency. Williams leadership alone would be a big enough reason to bring him back. Plus, he still has some gas left in the tank as he displayed in his limited time in the regular season.

The Hurricanes could shed some cap space by moving on from James Reimer and allowing Alex Nedeljkovic to become the backup to Petr Mrazek. This would solely be a move to create additional cap space and not a move based on the performance of Reimer. Sometimes moves like this have to made.

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For example, the Hurricanes pulled a similar move off when they shipped Calvin de Haan to the Chicago Blackhawks. If you can pull a draft selection for Reimer, then it might be worth it.

Moving on from Reimer makes sense from the cap standpoint. Only because with the flat cap the salary cap will stay relatively the same and teams will have to limit spending. The Hurricanes can create space but will also have to limit the space they use for contracts in the future.

I would say it’s likely that the Carolina Hurricanes stay quiet in the offseason with re-signings of Fleury and Foegele. I could see the Hurricanes offering something to van Riemsdyk, but I don’t think that is a guarantee.

This cap crunch will limit a lot of things the Hurricanes could look to do in the offseason but will benefit from making some major moves at the trading deadline. They got players with term when they acquired Vincent Trocheck and Brady Skjei.

Question for CC Readers: How do you think the Carolina Hurricanes will handle the flat cap?