One of the new elements from the most recent CBA was the ability to retain salary and cap hits as part of a trade. We’ve seen it used a lot in recent days and it will undoubtedly occur several more times before the trade deadline passes.
However, there are some restrictions to using this tool. They are as follows:
- No more than 50% of a player’s salary, cap hit, and bonuses (if applicable) can be retained in a single transaction. A player can only have their salary retained twice on the same contract.
- The same percentage must be retained for salary, cap hit, and bonuses.
- Teams can only retain up to a maximum of three contracts per season. Additionally, the sum of the amount retained can be no higher than 15% of the Upper Limit ($73MM this season).
Below are how many remaining retention spots are available for each team for 2016-17 and, where applicable, which players have had their cap hits retained as part of a trade already.
Anaheim: (2) Patrick Maroon ($500K per year through 2017-18)
Arizona: (1) Martin Hanzal ($1.55MM through 2016-17), Michael Stone ($2MM through 2016-17)
Boston: (3)
Buffalo: (3)
Calgary: (3)
Carolina: (2) Ron Hainsey ($1.42MM through 2016-17)
Chicago: (2) Rob Scuderi ($1.13MM through 2016-17)^
Colorado: (2) Cody McLeod ($533K through 2017-18)
Columbus: (3)
Dallas: (1) Ryan Garbutt ($900K through 2016-17), Johnny Oduya ($1.875MM through 2016-17)
Detroit: (1) Jakub Kindl ($360,000 through 2016-17), Thomas Vanek ($1.3MM through 2016-17)
Edmonton: (3)
Florida: (3)
Los Angeles: (2) Tom Gilbert ($280K through 2016-17)
Minnesota: (3)
Montreal: (2) David Desharnais ($700K through 2016-17)
Nashville: (3)
New Jersey: (3)
New York I: (3)
New York R: (3)
Ottawa: (3)
Philadelphia: (3)
Pittsburgh: (2) Rob Scuderi ($1.13MM through 2016-17)^
St. Louis: (2) Kevin Shattenkirk ($1.66MM through 2016-17)
San Jose: (2) Tommy Wingels ($743K through 2016-17)
Tampa Bay: (2) Ben Bishop ($1.19MM through 2016-17)
Toronto: (2) Phil Kessel ($1.2MM per year through 2021-22)
Vancouver: (1) Jannik Hansen ($500K through 2017-18), Roberto Luongo ($800,000 per year through 2021-22)
Washington: (3)
Winnipeg: (3)
^ – Both Chicago and Pittsburgh are retaining identical amounts on Rob Scuderi’s contract.