Salary Cap Report: Pacific Division

As the hockey world takes its collective breath before the World Cup, training camps, and the regular season, most teams have checked off their boxes and marked their ledgers. Some teams are not finished building their rosters, with RFAs still to sign and trades to explore. Some teams have plenty of space to maneuver with; other teams will need to get creative to stay under the cap.

We’ll continue our Salary Cap Reports by taking a look at the Pacific Division. Of note:

• The Flames have the most cap space in their division, and second-most in the league behind the Hurricanes. However they still have to sign Johnny Gaudreau and Sean Monahan, which will likely take up most of the $14.96MM of space they currently have.
• Anze Kopitar’s new extension will make him the highest paid player in the NHL this season. He’ll make $14MM in real dollars this season; his $10MM cap hit is second to only Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane. Kopitar will likely only enjoy the status of highest paid in the division until Connor McDavid’s entry-level contract expires in 2018.
• The Pacific features the four highest-paid pending-UFAs in Pavel Datsyuk ($7.5MM), Joe Thornton ($6.75MM), Patrick Marleau ($6.66MM), and Ryan Miller ($6MM). However, Datsyuk has left the NHL and will not be paid by Arizona, despite counting against the cap.

By the numbers:

• Anaheim Ducks
  Cap Space Remaining: $8,407,500
  Greatest Cap Hit: Corey Perry: $8.625MM
• Arizona Coyotes
  Cap Space Remaining: $8,847,875
  Greatest Cap Hit: Pavel Datsyuk: $7.5MM (inactive)/ Mike Smith: $5.666MM (active)
• Calgary Flames
  Cap Space Remaining: $14,969,600
  Greatest Cap Hit: Mark Giordano: $6.75MM
• Edmonton Oilers
  Cap Space Remaining: $9,238,833
  Greatest Cap Hit: Jordan Eberle/ Milan Lucic/ Ryan Nugent-Hopkins: $6MM
• Los Angeles Kings
  Cap Space Remaining: $1,154,773
  Greatest Cap Hit: Anze Kopitar: $10MM
• San Jose Sharks
  Cap Space Remaining: $995,832
  Greatest Cap Hit: Joe Thornton: $6.75MM
• Vancouver Canucks
  Cap Space Remaining: $2,771,250
  Greatest Cap Hit: Henrik Sedin/ Daniel Sedin: $7MM

Also in the Salary Cap Report series: Metropolitan Division and Atlantic Division.