Salary Cap Going Up Benefits Tampa Bay and Vegas

Tampa Bay and Vegas Will Benefit from Rising Salary Cap

Dave Pagnotta of the Fourth Period was on TSN Radio in Montreal. He discussed the salary cap going up to $88 million and was asked which teams would benefit the most.

** NHLRumors.com Transcriptions

Host: “Chatting with Dave Pagnotta of the Fourth Period here on Campbell versus Gallo. You mentioned the salary cap going up to $88 million. That’s not really a surprise. A lot of people were expecting that, but is there a team you think that’s that’s kind of smiled a little while wider when they realized it was going to be over 5% to 88 million.”

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Dave Pagnotta: “I think all the big clubs that are right up against. Tampa’s got an extra $300,000 to play with because I projected was at $88.7 (million). Then, the Leafs, I’m sure, and Vegas are the usual suspects that will spend up to the cap and beyond. They will most certainly appreciate the fact that it’s a little bit more to get that extra $300k to play with. Which doesn’t sound like a lot, but it does help out some later on in the season when you are accumulating cap space

That extra 300,000 can lead to once it is accrued can lead to a solid player that you add close to the trade deadline. So I think a few teams were looking at that going alright, that might be an opportunity for us to give us a little bit of wiggle room as we get going later on in the season.

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Some of these teams have some interesting decisions to make. Vegas and Tampa specifically. So I’m curious to see how that plays out over this month and leading into the draft. How creative some of these clubs get as they try to kind of solidify their rosters.

We know negotiations with Vegas and Jonathan Marchessault have started. Tampa’s trying to get Stamkos locked in. So any additional cap space or wiggle room they can have to play with certainly for them will put them at an advantage.”