The Basics of The Cap
The first thing we need to know is that the NHL Upper Salary Cap Limit this season is $44 million. Because there are 187 days in the 2006-2007 regular season, a team is allowed to spend $235,294 each day in cap dollars.
Each player's cap figure is simply the average salary through the life of his contract. For example, Bryan McCabe's cap hit for this season is $5.75 million because he signed a five-year deal which pays him $28.75 million although his actual salary this season is $7.15 million.
Each team's cap figure can change on a daily basis, depending on a variety of reasons. If a team does not use all of its $235,294 daily cap allowance, they can bank the unused amount and use it later in the season. This unused amount is called the team's "payroll room." At no point in the season can a team ever go over its payroll room. This means a team's payroll room cannot be negative, even if the team plans on evening it out later in the season. Basically, you can't borrow money from the future.
Who Counts Toward The Cap?
In short, every player on a team's roster is counted toward the cap. That includes the team's 23-man active roster along with any other player who is under contract — including injured ones. Also included are those contract bought out (Belfour and Domi).
Furthermore, players who are on a team as of 5 p.m. on any particular day count toward their team's cap allowance for that day. A player will also count toward the daily cap allowance if they were assigned to the minors on that same day they either practiced, played or traveled with the team prior to 5 p.m. So having the Marlies in town allows the team to easily transfer players on two-way contracts to save some dollars.
Long-Term Injuries (LTI) and How They Affect The Cap
This is one intricacy in the NHL's new CBA that does pertain to the Leafs . And reports on how it works vary from source to source. If a player has an injury that causes him to miss at least 10 games or 24 days of the season, he can be put on long-term injured reserve. What this does is give the injured player's team additional cap room — only if needed — to replace him. So if a team has a season-long cap figure of $43 million and they place a player who has a cap hit of $3 million on LTI, that team's upper cap limit becomes $46 million, $1 million of which goes against the cap and the additional $2 million the team is allowed to exceed as per the Collective Bargaining Agreement.
As with all good things, there is a catch. Once the injured player is ready to return to the lineup, the team must come into compliance with the cap again before re-activating the injured player. This means the team's upper cap limit is lowered back to $44 million. Also, if a team chooses not to replace the injured player, that extra cap allowance does NOT get banked.
So this is where long term injuries to Tucker, Wellwood and Peca become interesting. The Leafs do not save money by having long term injuries, it only allows them to spend above the cap during the period that those players are injured. According to various reports the Leafs have only about $1 million in cap space leading up to the trading deadline. Therefore, if they were to acquire expensive players at the trading deadline, they would have to dump salary. Now if Peca were to be injured right into the playoffs then I understand the higher cap would continue which would allow the Leafs more cap space when making a deal.
12 years ago
