Which NHL teams could weaponize their considerable cap space this summer?

Mar 13, 2025

Don Sweeney, Eric Tulsky and Kyle Davidson (Imagn Images)

When the NHL Trade Deadline comes and goes, it often feels like a crescendo after months of hype. In a sense, a tension release does follow, at least for a few weeks. But once the roster turnover of the Trade Deadline is in the rearview mirror, offseason speculation also begins. We have a better sense of which draft picks have gone where and which cap hits have been offloaded. That also provides a hint on which teams could be positioned to spend big this offseason. With the salary cap jumping from $88 to $95.5 million, we could see some significant facelifts league wide.

Which teams are uniquely set up to spend lavishly and perhaps improve their rosters drastically this summer?

Boston Bruins

End of an era? It felt like the Bruins blew it up last week when they traded longtime franchise stalwarts Brad Marchand, Charlie Coyle and Brandon Carlo, not to mention key checkers Trent Frederic and Justin Brazeau. At the very least, the fire sale signalled that GM Don Sweeney and president Cam Neely didn’t feel they had the horses this season. But it would be too far to suggest we’re witnessing a scorched earth rebuild in Boston yet. Their team pillars, right winger David Pastrnak, defenseman Charlie McAvoy and goaltender Jeremy Swayman, are signed six, five and seven more seasons, respectively. Veteran support pieces Hampus Lindholm, Nikita Zadorov and Elias Lindholm don’t appear to have contracts that will age well but are nevertheless early in their long-term deals, while Pavel Zacha and freshly acquired Casey Mittelstadt have a couple years left apiece. The Bruins are not set up to tank at all. They’re also equipped with $28.82 million in projected cap space for next season. Even with solid checking forward Morgan Geekie and promising blueliner Mason Lohrei needing extensions as RFAs, neither is close to his break-the-break contract. The Bruins will thus have a significant chunk of change available should they want to pursue multiple high-end UFAs this summer. I’m not saying it’s the right plan, but it’s a plausible one for a organization that refuses to use the word “rebuild.”

Carolina Hurricanes

No matter how hard the Canes try to spin it – Mikko Rantanen didn’t feel comfortable there, we love Logan Stankoven, we couldn’t get a deal done with our extra first-round picks at the Trade Deadline – this season was a bit of a blunder. The Rantanen situation was a clear miscalculation, and while the ultimate return they got for him (which was the return for Martin Necas and Jack Drury) is fair value long-term, it weakened the Canes in the short term. That said: this team is seriously positioned to reload this offseason with the likes of Taylor Hall, Dmitry Orlov, Brent Burns and Freddie Andersen becoming UFAs. Carolina has a bit of face-saving to do after being spurned as a market by Rantanen and seeing their owner voted the league’s worst by NHL agents, but $36.17 million in projected cap space can remedy the problem. Tulsky already put his stamp on the team as a first-time GM last summer when the roster turned over quite a bit, but the 2025-26 Canes will truly feel like his creation.

Chicago Blackhawks

The “Connor Bedard has no help” noise has become deafening this season. It’s true that the Blackhawks spent plenty in free agency last summer but, with the exception of Tyler Bertuzzi’s contract, those were all relatively short-term deals. The Hawks seem far more likely to weaponize their $31.97 million in projected cap space in a seismic way this summer. That means pursuing some top UFAs in their prime years; Mitch Marner would be a good example should he go to market. It’s time for GM Kyle Davidson to add a couple impactful support pieces around the emerging young core of Bedard, Alex Vlasic, Spencer Knight, Frank Nazar and Artyom Levshunov. Bedard will be eligible to sign his first career extension July 1, but it won’t go on the books until 2026-27.

Columbus Blue Jackets

The Jackets have arrived as a deep and threatening team in the Eastern Conference Wildcard race. Given how many of their key contributors are aged 24 or younger, a lot of what they’ve done feels like the start of a long-term ascension rather than a one-year blip. With plenty of additional strong prospects in their pipeline, Columbus is positioned to shift away from amassing futures and add for the present. The Jackets may not be a spend-to-the-cap team, but with a staggering $43.01 million in projected cap space, they don’t need to be to make some major additions. On one hand, they have a lot of work to do with their existing roster; RFA forward Dmitri Voronkov needs a new deal, and GM Don Waddell will have to make calls on UFAs such as blueliners Dante Fabbro and Ivan Provorov, among many others. But the Jackets are an intriguing team to watch because they can go in many directions while maintaining an emerging group of rising stars led by forwards Adam Fantilli, Kirill Marchenko and Kent Johnson – not to mention superstar defenseman Zach Werenski.

Pittsburgh Penguins

Should the lowly Penguins, poised for a third consecutive playoff miss, be adding veteran support in free agency? Absolutely not. This franchise has been in a steady nosedive since 2018. But living legend Sidney Crosby determines the team’s direction as long as he’s still playing, and he commences his two-year extension next season. The Pens do have $25.56 million in projected cap space to play with in hopes of fortifying their lineup. Of course, that factors in that they’ve sold off the likes of Marcus Pettersson and Michael Bunting from their season-opening lineup, so their best-case scenario may be a lot closer to breaking even than they want to admit. What’s sad: if the Pens had acknowledged they weren’t good enough four or five years ago, they could’ve been rising toward another peak by now and giving Crosby a team with an actual chance to make a run.

Utah Hockey Club

Utah has a positively loaded pool of prospects. It has a new owner committed to winning and a GM in Bill Armstrong ready to make some aggressive moves after already wading into those waters last summer with his trades for defenseman Mikhail Sergachev and John Marino. They’ve already handled their higher-priority extensions for forward Dylan Guenther, goaltender Karel Vejmelka and defenseman Olli Maatta, meaning their $22.31 million in projected cap space could go toward a fun purchase or two this summer. If they can find a way to move off maligned left winger Lawson Crouse’s $4.3 million cap hit to boot, they could have even more money to play with.

Winnipeg Jets

The Jets quietly shape up to be a massive wild card this offseason. They’re the best team in the NHL, but they have a lot at stake in the next couple months, because so much of their roster is unsigned for 2025-26. They have to make a call on UFA winger Nikolaj Ehlers and defenseman Neal Pionk, plus freshly acquired rental Brandon Tanev. They have a key RFA to re-sign in right winger Gabe Vilardi. They have just six forwards under contract for next season at the moment. If they enjoy a successful playoff run, maybe GM Kevin Cheveldayoff prioritizes keeping his group together. If they flop in Round 1 again, much of Winnipeg’s projected $37.13 million in projected cap space could go toward a significant team makeover instead.

Other teams to watch: Anaheim Ducks, Calgary Flames, Detroit Red Wings

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