Training camps are arriving, which means most teams have almost locked down their rosters, at least until that final wave of players currently on professional tryout contracts gets signed. At the very least, teams have a good idea of what their salary cap situations look like.

For the last month, we’ve been ranking every team’s salary cap situation, and today is the final chapter. Ahead will be the eight teams that are the best of the best, and it shouldn’t be a surprise that most of these teams are consistent contenders for the playoffs and the Stanley Cup. This ranking has been done through a somewhat complex process and system, which I have outlined in a summary of its own for your convenience.

As for the changes going into the final edition, the Columbus Blue Jackets and Toronto Maple Leafs continue to be intertwined in a “will they, won’t they”, as they have swapped positions once again, with Columbus’ recent acquisition of Ivan Fedotov hurting them in some categories. Additionally, that move has caused the Philadelphia Flyers to move up from 29th to 27th.

The Blue Jackets and Flyers moving around in a couple categories has also caused a chain reaction in other parts of the list. As a result, the Los Angeles Kings and Montreal Canadiens have swapped places, the Buffalo Sabres have moved up two spots, and the Utah Mammoth have moved down four spots. No teams found their way into the top eight, though, so the following teams will all be new entries.

8. Detroit Red Wings

Contract Rating: 23^rd
Contracts with No-Trade/No-Move Clauses: t-12^th
Dead Cap Space: 22^nd
Quality of Core: 2^nd
Cap Space to Skill Differential: 5^th

If there’s one team that sticks out like a sore thumb on this list, it’s the Red Wings. After all, they aren’t even close to being a consistent playoff contender, never mind a Cup contender. Considering all the criticism Steve Yzerman has rightfully gotten for his moves lately, it’s surprising to see Detroit up this high.

But there are two factors that are a driving force for this ranking. First, the three players that are currently locked up long term for the Red Wings are also their three best players: Dylan Larkin, Lucas Raymond and Moritz Seider. Also, the Wings fare well because contracts like Ben Chiarot, J.T. Compher and Andrew Copp are no longer in that range like they used to be, but that’s about as good as it gets as far as securing a core long term.

And then there’s their cap space to skill differential. The Red Wings aren’t a great team (and my model agrees, ranking them 21st right now), but they also aren’t spending like a top team either. With nearly $12 million in cap space, they have the sixth-most in the league right now, which means that hopefully when they do spend, it will improve the roster as well.

That said, Yzerman isn’t reliable for spending wisely, and it’s created the team’s biggest weakness: their contract rating. Outside of getting market value for their main core and cheap deals with some of their younger players (like Simon Edvinsson, Marco Kasper and Elmer Soderblom) and a few veterans (like Erik Gustavsson, Cam Talbot and James van Riemsdyk), the Red Wings just aren’t getting good value on their players. Mason Appleton, Chiarot, Compher, Copp, Travis Hamonic, Patrick Kane, even John Gibson are the biggest names for Detroit whose contracts don’t rate well. It just feels like they could be doing a bit better spending in that regard, and maybe that would put them in consistent playoff contention.

7. Tampa Bay Lightning

Contract Rating: 2^nd
Contracts with No-Trade/No-Move Clauses: t-26^th
Dead Cap Space: 1^st
Quality of Core: 17^th
Cap Space to Skill Differential: t-16^th

The Lightning have long been a model of consistency, both on the ice and with their finances. But last summer may have been the true proving point for how willing they are to stay near the top. Most teams would have hung on to veteran players like Steven Stamkos, but pivoting to Jake Guentzel helped keep their contention window open just a little bit longer, even without a strong prospect pool. This strategy may have only resulted in a first round exit for Tampa last season, but it’s otherwise paying off.

The Bolts are one of just two teams to rank top two in two different categories, which for them is their contract rating and their dead cap space, the latter of which they have none. As for their contract rating, it mostly just comes from a lack of bad contracts in their system. Pretty much all their big names are signed to around market value, with the lone exception being Erik Cernak. That said, some are still proving to be steals, like Oliver Bjorkstrand, Anthony Cirelli and Brandon Hagel.

The Lightning’s only noticeable blemish is one that is suffered by teams in tax-free states and coming off a strong championship window: the number of clauses in their system. They have 12 on their cap sheet, tied for the sixth-most in the league, but while a couple are questionable (Zemgus Girgensons? Really?), this is mostly just the downside to Tampa’s situation. Otherwise, they’ve done a great job of keep their Cup window open, even if they haven’t made noise in the playoffs recently.

6. Florida Panthers

Contract Rating: 10^th
Contracts with No-Trade/No-Move Clauses: t-18^th
Dead Cap Space: t-1^st
Quality of Core: 6^th
Cap Space to Skill Differential: t-26^th

Speaking of consistent teams in the state of Florida, the Panthers are the league’s gold standard right now. In the previous three years I’ve done this list, they’ve ranked second, first and fifth, the only team to rank in the top five all three years. The fact that sixth is the worst they’ve finished should be a big compliment, but it does come with one tiny red flag waving in the distance.

What the Panthers have done to stay so good over the past few years is that they’ve known when to cut bait on players who weren’t a part of their core. That’s been seen so far in instances like dealing Jonathan Huberdeau and MacKenzie Weegar to get Matthew Tkachuk, or just simply letting players like Anthony Duclair, Radko Gudas or Brandon Montour walk when it was deemed necessary and replacing them with cheaper alternatives.

However, that slipped this summer. One could argue that Florida had built-in replacements for Sam Bennett and Brad Marchand in Anton Lundell and Mackie Samoskevich to allow them to move on from the former two to continue maintaining good cap health. But instead, they committed to Bennett and Marchand. That’s far from a bad thing, as the Panthers just won the Cup with this group, but it also means the window may close sooner than it could have. As a result, they have a few more bad contracts in the system and are the only team currently over the cap once you account for contracts permanently on long-term injured reserve (so not Tkachuk).

Of course, there’s still a lot to like about this Florida group, especially with the fact that, outside of Sergei Bobrovsky, all their top players are locked in. Only the Hurricanes have more players locked in for four or more seasons, so the fact that many Panthers are signed that long and they’re still one of the best teams in terms of quality of core is a great sign. And with the exception of Bennett’s contract, all of them are rated as close to, or above, market value, also a great sign about why the Panthers are still rated so well despite finally showing some flaws.

5. Vegas Golden Knights

Contract Rating: 3^rd
Contracts with No-Trade/No-Move Clauses: t-26^th
Dead Cap Space: t-1^st
Quality of Core: 13^th
Cap Space to Skill Differential: t-13^th

Much like the Panthers, the Golden Knights have never not been in this last quarter of the list since the series started in 2022, and it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know why. They continue to be cutthroat with their roster and look at every setback as an opening to improve elsewhere. Case in point: Alex Pietrangelo’s injury should have caused more problems for Vegas, and yet it gave them the cap space they needed to bring in Mitch Marner.

The Golden Knights spent very intelligently this summer, as Marner’s contract is right around market value. Despite the high cap hit, he’s worth the money. The other really smart thing Vegas did was move on from Nicolas Hague. They not only avoided paying the defenseman that overpriced contract he got with the Nashville Predators, but the trade also got them a cheaper and better replacement in Jeremy Lauzon, along with a cheaper replacement for Nicolas Roy in Colton Sissons.

As a result, the Golden Knights continue to sit well with their salary situation. They have no dead cap space, have a solid core, and have a roster strong enough to be close to the salary cap. Their contract rating is also very strong, largely thanks to some great value contracts (like Pavel Dorofeyev, Reilly Smith and William Karlsson), and more importantly, only few bad ones (like Brett Howden and Adin Hill). Vegas does have a lot of clauses, but like Tampa and Florida, that can mostly be attributed to operating in a no-tax state.

4. Dallas Stars

Contract Rating: 5^th
Contracts with No-Trade/No-Move Clauses: t-5^th
Dead Cap Space: 19^th
Quality of Core: 3^rd
Cap Space to Skill Differential: t-21^st

Is it any surprise that the team that has managed to maintain one of the deepest lineups in the league is also this high in the cap rankings? It takes smart contract management to keep so many good players around, and the Stars are one of the best at it with the fifth-best contract rating. Even as they’ve had to start paying players like Matt Duchene and Wyatt Johnston closer to market value, along with adding Mikko Rantanen into the fold, finally getting Jamie Benn’s overpriced deal off the books and having him back at just $1 million has helped offset the balance.

Perhaps the most impressive part about Dallas’ cap sheet is the fact that they actually don’t have a lot of clauses on their books despite being in a no-tax state. There is still a bit of unspoken loyalty to maintaining that tax situation with their players (see Mason Marchment being traded to the Seattle Kraken, another team in a no-tax state), but when the other top teams in the same situation are struggling in that regard, it should be noted.

And much like other top teams, Dallas knows how to identify their core. Johnston, Rantanen, Miro Heiskanen, Roope Hintz, Jake Oettinger, and even Duchene & Esa Lindell are solid additions to it. If there is one concern for the Stars, it’s next season. Jason Robertson and Thomas Harley (also core players) need new contracts, and they still have Tyler Seguin’s $9.85 cap hit on the books for that year. Seguin’s and Ilya Lyubushkin’s contracts are really going to hurt next season, even if their contract rating is almost spotless otherwise.

3. Colorado Avalanche

Contract Rating: 6^th
Contracts with No-Trade/No-Move Clauses: t-24^th
Dead Cap Space: t-1^st
Quality of Core: 11^th
Cap Space to Skill Differential: 6^th

While the Avalanche came oh-so-close to adding to their cap ranking dynasty, having taken the top spot in 2022 and 2024, they’ll have to settle for the bronze medal this time around. But it says a lot about how well they manage their cap that they can stay so high up in these rankings, even as their depth dwindles due to having to pay top dollar for their best players.

Of course, their depth issues hit new heights last season. The Avs pinched pennies with Rantanen, and as a result, they moved on from him. That came right before the announcement of the rising salary cap over the next few years, and you have to wonder whether Colorado would have made that deal if they knew that would be the case. Still, the Avalanche’s other top dogs are all paid right about where they should be.

Beyond that, the Avalanche have spent well with their depth. Their main defense corps members are all on good contracts, and the closest deal they have to a below-market cap hit among their forwards is that of Brock Nelson, who may be worth it to give Colorado their best second-line center since Nazem Kadri. The Mackenzie Blackwood extension was a bit questionable given the sample size, but again, the Avs needed a goaltender, and they wanted to lock him down. It makes sense.

2. Carolina Hurricanes

Contract Rating: 1^st
Contracts with No-Trade/No-Move Clauses: t-28^th
Dead Cap Space: 7^th
Quality of Core: 5^th
Cap Space to Skill Differential: 1^st

After one full year of seeing Don Waddell operate outside of the Hurricanes organization with the Blue Jackets, and seeing how Carolina has somehow significantly improved since then, it really shows that they probably made the right choice pivoting to Eric Tulsky. Sure, the Hurricanes are still falling short of the Stanley Cup, but doing well in the cap rankings indicates that they’ll be in the conversation for a long time.

Perhaps the Canes’ most impressive feat is how their contract rating is almost flawless. Among all of their contracts that qualified, only six had a negative value, and only three were outside of the realm of market value in K’Andre Miller (-38), Jesperi Kotkaniemi (-45) and Andrei Svechnikov (-112), with Miller and Svechnikov still having some room to grow in those contracts.

That’s why Carolina leads in cap space to skill differential by a significant margin: their roster is rated as one of the best, and yet they still have more than $10 million in salary cap space. That said, extensions to Jackson Blake and Logan Stankoven will likely eat into that cap space next season, so the Hurricanes can’t just add another superstar player to the fold this year unless it’s short term.

Carolina also has the most players locked up long-term, and it’s impressive that they still have a top-five quality of core in spite of that. When you’ve got seven top-six forwards (Svechnikov, Stankoven, Blake, Sebastian Aho, Nikolaj Ehlers, Seth Jarvis, William Carrier) and three top-four defensemen (Miller, Jaccob Slavin, Sean Walker) locked up long term, that will keep that number up. The only players outside of that group signed long-term are Kotkaniemi and Eric Robinson, and Robinson’s contract is still good value. This team is set up to succeed for a long time, and maybe even beyond this current window if Tulsky continues to be as proficient as he is.

1. Washington Capitals

Contract Rating: 11^th
Contracts with No-Trade/No-Move Clauses: t-5^th
Dead Cap Space: t-1^st
Quality of Core: 8^th
Cap Space to Skill Differential: t-7^th

Fittingly, the Capitals’ status in the cap rankings mirrors their past couple NHL seasons. After 19th and 20th-place finishes in 2023 and 2024, they’ve surged up the list to take the top spot this season. Now, some of their on-ice bounce back had to do with some luck, and it’s possible that may have rubbed off in the model, but there’s still a lot to love about Washington right now.

While the Caps don’t lead in any single category (they share first place in dead cap space with six other teams), they’re the most consistent team across the board, as they’re the closest team to being top 10 in every category. They only have five players with clauses (and two of those, Alex Ovechkin and John Carlson, are done after this season), they have a solid core set for the future after the old guard (Jakob Chychrun, Martin Fehervary, Aliaksei Protas, Matt Roy, Rasmus Sandin and Logan Thompson), and they still have a decent amount of cap space to improve the team as far as playoff contenders go.

Really, Washington’s only “blemish” is their contract rating (and blemish is probably overexaggerating that situation). The worst culprits for that are also Carlson and Ovechkin, so that will improve next season, although there are a couple long-term contracts that leave some concern. The most notable is Tom Wilson (especially considering that he’s 31 with six years remaining on his deal), but Chychrun and Pierre-Luc Dubois also have some question marks, even if the latter has salvaged his value significantly after last season.

It will be interesting to see if Washington can maintain this cap success going forward. They’re likely due for a slight regression on the ice, so if that occurs, will we see that impact their salary outlook? Tune in to next year’s cap rankings to find out!

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