After trading disgruntled winger Patrik Laine to the Montreal Canadiens this week, the Blue Jackets suddenly have an abundance of cap space. They may do nothing at all for the time being, but here are four ways they could weaponize it.
Take on an ugly contract for more draft capital...
The NHL's salary cap has been mostly stagnant for the last several years, as the league tried to recoup revenue lost during the COVID pandemic. This means that several of its clubs are in cap trouble, because of contracts they signed while projecting the salary cap's continued rise.
If you check out PuckPedia's main page, it's pretty easy to see right away. There are four clubs who are projected over the cap right now. There are another nine who are within $1 million of the cap. And another three teams who are within $3 million of the cap, but without enough players to ice a full lineup.
Put more simply, roughly half the league is going to need some sort of cap relief just to get through the upcoming regular season. Now, injuries and IR/LTIR usage are bound to alleviate some of these concerns. But, not all of them. Some of these teams will need to add flexibility.
Which means that several of these teams are probably looking to offload salary, much in the same way the Blue Jackets did when they handed Montreal a second round pick to take on all of Patrik Laine's remaining contract.
The Jackets are well poised to do something similar, and rumor has it that some teams have already reached out. It's possible that they could recoup what they gave up for Laine, and then some.
I only see them doing that if the retention is this year and possibly next. Too many young players are going to need new contracts before the summer of 2026 hits full stride, so they won't want to tie up the books too much.
There are other ways to weaponize this space. Let's continue on the next page.