Unless something dramatic occurs, we already know, thanks to the CBA what the salary cap is going to be for the 2021/2022 NHL season; 81.5 million. This is also places the cap floor at 60.2 million.
This gives us a baseline as to what to expect from the Seattle Kraken in their inaugural season.
When Vegas entered the league in the 17/18 season, the cap ceiling was 75 million, with a cap floor of 55.4 million. Bill Foley, owner of the Golden Knights certainly has deep pockets but in their first season, that team spent the 8th fewest dollars. That includes the deadline acquisitions of Tomas Tatar (5.3 million dollar cap hit) Ryan Reaves (1.125 million dollar cap hit), and retaining salary on Derick Brassard (2 million dollar cap hit).
No one expected Vegas to do what they did in their first season but building off of that, the following year Vegas spent over 77 million in cap space, ranked 12th overall.
Seattle also should have some money behind them with David Bonderman, Jerry Bruckheimer, and Tod Leiweke making up the ownership group but in their first season it's far more likely to see them closer to the cap floor of 60.2 million.
It's unreasonable to expect Seattle to do what Vegas has so I do not expect the Kraken to be buyers in the first couple of years, this would mean that the Kraken will have plenty of cap space to make deals with, or throw big money at high profile free agents.
Jumping ahead two years there are some big names that would be UFA. Forwards such as Malkin, Barkov, Giroux, and Forsberg.
Also defencemen like Subban, Letang, Nurse, Seth Jones, Morgan Reilly, and Colton Parayko.
Obviously most of these players will be extended long before they reach free agency but should any of them test the free agent waters, the Kraken will have the dollars to sign any of them.
Right now we are seeing teams making moves to try and fit within the current cap structure or shed salary due to lost revenue. We are going to see players either taking pay cuts or shorter term deals that we normally would not in free agency.
Seattle is going to likely have over 15 million dollars in cap space after their first season and will be able to offer the long term security at a good price that players will covet. The Kraken may not have the roster advantages that the Golden Knights ended up receiving but in their own way this team could become competitive through free agency very quickly.
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EXPANSION DRAFT UPDATE
We are less than two weeks away now from Free Agency and the beginning of our Expansion Draft. There are still some spots to be filled.
ANAHEIM DUCKS ARIZONA COYOTES - Dahlmanyotes BOSTON BRUINS BUFFALO SABRES - KilkennyDan CALGARY FLAMES – RedC21 CAROLINA HURRICANES CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS – Theo Fox - Blackhawks Blogger COLORADO AVALANCHE– goavsgo10 COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS– General Mokus DALLAS STARS DETROIT RED WINGS – Feds91Stammer EDMONTON OILERS - Reveen FLORIDA PANTHERS - FlyGuy323 LA KINGS – tkecanuck341 MINNESOTA WILD MONTREAL CANADIENS NASHVILLE PREDATORS NEW JERSEY DEVILS – Bragg18 NEW YORK ISLANDERS - @IslesNationBC NEW YORK RANGERS - jimbro83 OTTAWA SENATORS - MarkStoned PHILEDELPHIA FLYERS – jmatchett383 PITTSBURGH PENGUINS - MacPatty SAN JOSE SHARKS ST LOUIS BLUES TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING - LTJ84 TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS – aries1976 VANCOUVER CANUCKS – optimus-reim WASHINGTON CAPITALS WINNIPEG JETS – TheUltimateJet
I want to begin these alphabetically starting Monday October 12th, doing one team overview a day from there.