From Lightning and Leafs to Arizona, NHL’s spending gap widens to record level
While the NHL has hyped the “competitive balance” of the salary cap, hockey’s spending gap between the big boys and the budget conscious teams has widened to a record margin, according to analysis by Daily Faceoff with the help of CapFriendly.com.
The Tampa Bay Lightning spent at least $41 million more than the Arizona Coyotes in total player wage expenditure this season, which is the widest gap ever. Prior to this season, the biggest difference between the top spending team and the lowest spending team was $34.1 million – and the average difference over the previous three seasons was $32.9 million.
Those figures includes NHL player salaries, signing bonus money and minor league players on NHL contracts, retained salary transactions, dead cap money and buyouts, and also calculate for the daily change in pay for call-ups and roster movement throughout the season, as computed by CapFriendly. Independent team sources verified the accuracy of the calculations to Daily Faceoff.
In reality, this season’s gulf is much larger because the Coyotes acquired injured players Jakub Voracek, Shea Weber, Andrew Ladd and Bryan Little, and those contracts are all believed to be protected by insurance which would cover 80 percent of the payments.
That large of a gap was not contemplated in the NHL’s salary cap configuration, which was designed to create a mostly level ice surface across the league within specific guardrails.
“We want our fans to believe that no matter where you are, your team has a chance to make the playoffs,” NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said in 2019. “Once the playoffs begin, anything can happen.”
The NHL’s salary cap upper limit this season is $82.5 million and the salary cap floor, or minimum, is $61 million – meaning the maximum allowable gap between the top and bottom should be $21.5 million. But big spenders (and bottom feeders) have found ways to game the system to their desired results with the ability to add contracts using the long-term injury exception (LTIR), to front-load contracts, and to pay massive signing bonuses.
Not that spending necessarily equates to playoff success: Three of the top six spenders this season (Montreal, San Jose and St. Louis) will miss the playoffs. All three teams were involved in retaining money or taking on contracts to increase their draft capital, which bumped up their spending.
NHL Team Salary Expenditure (2022-23)
| Team | Signing Bonus | NHL Salary | Minors Sal | Total Salary | Total Spend |
| Tampa Bay Lightning | $36,265,000 | $59,844,822 | $6,367,837 | $67,974,564 | $104,239,564 |
| Montreal Canadiens | $14,635,014 | $85,002,310 | $3,399,348 | $89,234,991 | $103,870,005 |
| Vegas Golden Knights | $32,348,000 | $63,607,257 | $5,286,861 | $68,902,327 | $101,250,327 |
| Edmonton Oilers | $27,292,500 | $64,748,433 | $4,289,839 | $72,462,885 | $99,755,385 |
| San Jose Sharks | $26,272,500 | $65,508,978 | $2,926,309 | $70,410,288 | $96,682,788 |
| St. Louis Blues | $10,907,500 | $79,240,948 | $4,158,247 | $83,617,544 | $94,525,044 |
| Boston Bruins | $17,817,500 | $66,470,175 | $7,749,294 | $74,289,091 | $92,106,591 |
| New Jersey Devils | $18,705,000 | $65,874,098 | $3,206,242 | $71,405,340 | $90,110,340 |
| Vancouver Canucks | $6,730,000 | $75,672,085 | $4,651,081 | $82,752,288 | $89,482,288 |
| Washington Capitals | $26,732,500 | $56,912,243 | $4,981,556 | $61,976,565 | $88,709,065 |
| New York Rangers | $29,050,000 | $50,098,080 | $4,861,044 | $59,442,458 | $88,492,458 |
| Calgary Flames | $7,292,500 | $75,993,217 | $4,911,863 | $80,906,323 | $88,198,823 |
| Colorado Avalanche | $995,000 | $83,547,908 | $3,255,434 | $86,825,647 | $87,820,647 |
| Columbus Blue Jackets | $12,692,500 | $71,542,922 | $2,367,602 | $74,802,191 | $87,494,691 |
| Seattle Kraken | $1,742,500 | $80,070,555 | $5,273,742 | $85,344,297 | $87,086,797 |
| Philadelphia Flyers | $19,869,000 | $59,887,379 | $4,136,918 | $66,379,721 | $86,248,721 |
| Dallas Stars | $20,977,500 | $57,850,515 | $7,083,644 | $64,989,213 | $85,966,713 |
| Pittsburgh Penguins | $9,100,000 | $72,125,998 | $3,740,526 | $76,783,191 | $85,883,191 |
| New York Islanders | $655,000 | $78,750,217 | $4,691,650 | $84,941,867 | $85,596,867 |
| Nashville Predators | $14,335,000 | $64,255,740 | $3,053,133 | $69,308,873 | $83,643,873 |
| Florida Panthers | $31,015,000 | $46,280,419 | $3,808,243 | $52,542,364 | $83,557,364 |
| Toronto Maple Leafs | $36,615,630 | $41,811,959 | $4,154,597 | $46,523,620 | $83,139,250 |
| Carolina Hurricanes | $6,250,000 | $73,654,133 | $2,175,025 | $75,872,672 | $82,122,672 |
| Detroit Red Wings | $4,747,500 | $67,506,071 | $6,900,485 | $75,965,139 | $80,712,639 |
| Winnipeg Jets | $3,950,000 | $71,621,460 | $3,419,108 | $75,040,568 | $78,990,568 |
| Los Angeles Kings | $15,867,500 | $56,748,721 | $4,850,412 | $62,761,445 | $78,628,945 |
| Anaheim Ducks | $1,635,000 | $69,189,422 | $3,308,959 | $75,160,881 | $76,795,881 |
| Ottawa Senators | $5,020,000 | $65,149,922 | $2,594,595 | $71,579,152 | $76,599,152 |
| Chicago Blackhawks | $23,105,000 | $46,424,109 | $3,900,514 | $51,700,813 | $74,805,813 |
| Minnesota Wild | $4,465,000 | $62,676,093 | $3,346,878 | $67,723,168 | $72,188,168 |
| Buffalo Sabres | $10,049,166 | $53,028,204 | $4,368,338 | $59,046,866 | $69,096,032 |
| Arizona Coyotes | $10,065,000 | $51,103,768 | $2,303,508 | $53,410,383 | $63,475,383 |
As you can see, there is a cyclical nature with budgeting relative to each franchise’s competitive cycle. The deep-pocketed Blackhawks are not a big spender as they’re in the throes of a rebuild. The Detroit Red Wings and Los Angeles Kings are just beginning to ratchet up their salary expenditure as their rebuilds near completion.
Of note: the defending Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche ranked 31st in signing bonus money spent, one of only two teams under $1 million. That will change in a big way this summer as Nathan MacKinnon’s massive new contract kicks in with a whopping $15.73 million due in signing bonus. MacKinnon’s contract alone will account for more signing bonus money spent than 17 other teams.
On-ice salary expenditure is just one example of the gap between the NHL’s haves and have-nots. Staff sizes and off-ice expenses, ranging from travel and hotels to meals and equipment, are another. Daily Faceoff charted the front office construction of all 32 teams. The average hockey operations staff size was 34; most teams were in very similar ranges of two assistant GMs, seven coaches, three analytics staffers, 12 amateur scouts and four pro scouts.
There are certainly outliers. The Ottawa Senators have the smallest staff with 28 hockey operations personnel. The budget conscious Arizona Coyotes employ 39 people in hockey ops, while the big spending Edmonton Oilers have just 28 hockey ops employees. There is nuance and variations in titles, plus no staff listing designated between full and part-time positions, which can alter the numbers either way.
The biggest outlier is the Toronto Maple Leafs, who have a whopping 49 people working in hockey operations.
Over the last four seasons, no teams have spent more than the Lightning ($390 million) and Toronto Maple Leafs ($389 million). The Leafs were the first team to spend north of $100 million, hitting an incredible $120 million in 2019-20, with $54 million paid out in signing bonus to Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, John Tavares and William Nylander.
(Because their expenditures were so astronomically high in 2019-20 and 2020-21, Toronto’s total player expense was thrown out when calculating the gap between the NHL’s highest and lowest spenders.)
Nonetheless, over a four-year period, the Leafs and Lightning have spent at least $115 million more than the Senators and Coyotes. We’ve known that the NHL has a clear line drawn between the spenders and penny pinchers, but to see the raw numbers adds eye-popping context that has never before been publicized.
One thing is also abundantly clear: the global pandemic has been bad for players’ bank accounts. Despite the salary cap remaining flat at $81.5 million before increasing $1 million this season, total player wage expenditure has decreased in each of the three seasons since the NHL went on pause in March 2020.
Total Salary Expenditure Over 4 Seasons (2019-23)
| Team | 2019-20 | 2020-21 | 2021-22 | 2022-23 | Total |
| Tampa Bay Lightning | $94,270,583 | $92,277,291 | $99,140,189 | $104,239,564 | $389,927,627 |
| Toronto Maple Leafs | $120,965,477 | $101,527,091 | $83,357,920 | $83,139,250 | $388,989,738 |
| Vegas Golden Knights | $99,671,032 | $79,107,780 | $90,758,914 | $101,250,327 | $370,788,053 |
| Edmonton Oilers | $93,431,221 | $90,230,294 | $82,377,392 | $99,755,385 | $365,794,292 |
| New York Islanders | $94,826,194 | $86,454,460 | $95,956,750 | $85,596,867 | $362,834,271 |
| Montreal Canadiens | $87,949,532 | $75,577,079 | $93,070,957 | $103,870,005 | $360,467,573 |
| San Jose Sharks | $93,881,467 | $83,041,616 | $82,934,664 | $96,682,788 | $356,540,535 |
| St. Louis Blues | $91,460,506 | $83,117,328 | $85,503,438 | $94,525,044 | $354,606,316 |
| Washington Capitals | $95,576,775 | $83,381,637 | $86,021,129 | $88,709,065 | $353,688,606 |
| Philadelphia Flyers | $94,435,695 | $81,170,416 | $90,763,705 | $86,248,721 | $352,618,537 |
| Dallas Stars | $96,402,841 | $74,598,615 | $87,679,647 | $85,966,713 | $344,647,816 |
| Colorado Avalanche | $87,757,985 | $83,999,102 | $84,641,492 | $87,820,647 | $344,219,226 |
| Pittsburgh Penguins | $90,739,936 | $81,285,618 | $85,871,127 | $85,883,191 | $343,779,872 |
| Nashville Predators | $91,622,339 | $83,281,372 | $79,861,488 | $83,643,873 | $338,409,072 |
| Calgary Flames | $83,561,576 | $80,168,174 | $86,374,078 | $88,198,823 | $338,302,651 |
| Vancouver Canucks | $90,722,648 | $74,796,007 | $82,149,844 | $89,482,288 | $337,150,787 |
| Carolina Hurricanes | $87,304,752 | $77,387,672 | $88,317,135 | $82,122,672 | $335,132,231 |
| New York Rangers | $85,129,957 | $80,924,200 | $80,324,372 | $88,492,458 | $334,870,987 |
| Winnipeg Jets | $83,537,981 | $80,553,899 | $91,673,876 | $78,990,568 | $334,756,324 |
| Boston Bruins | $85,375,343 | $74,284,374 | $79,734,464 | $92,106,591 | $331,500,772 |
| Columbus Blue Jackets | $82,410,179 | $80,883,160 | $80,139,443 | $87,494,691 | $330,927,473 |
| Anaheim Ducks | $86,288,329 | $82,829,912 | $84,080,027 | $76,795,881 | $329,994,149 |
| Florida Panthers | $87,465,540 | $74,882,965 | $82,773,113 | $83,557,364 | $328,678,982 |
| Chicago Blackhawks | $86,532,965 | $73,533,368 | $83,076,520 | $74,805,813 | $317,948,666 |
| Minnesota Wild | $86,515,898 | $80,640,361 | $77,693,572 | $72,188,168 | $317,037,999 |
| Buffalo Sabres | $92,313,742 | $88,665,326 | $65,970,758 | $69,096,032 | $316,045,858 |
| New Jersey Devils | $78,135,929 | $73,457,632 | $73,976,504 | $90,110,340 | $315,680,405 |
| Detroit Red Wings | $78,100,907 | $65,085,985 | $74,040,266 | $80,712,639 | $297,939,797 |
| Los Angeles Kings | $80,352,674 | $58,172,423 | $74,831,749 | $78,628,945 | $291,985,791 |
| Ottawa Senators | $69,026,210 | $61,445,358 | $67,912,485 | $76,599,152 | $274,983,205 |
| Arizona Coyotes | $76,416,103 | $66,030,648 | $64,933,674 | $63,475,383 | $270,855,808 |
| Seattle Kraken | $0 | $0 | $75,110,860 | $87,086,797 | $162,197,657 |
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