5 NHL teams with the worst salary-cap situation heading into 2025/26 NHL season ft. Vegas Golden Knights

The NHL offseason is nearing its end, as training camps will begin next month as the season kicks off in October. In the offseason, several NHL teams made some major changes to their rosters but that has hurt their cap space. Even with the cap going up, some teams are in bad salary cap situations.

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5 NHL teams with the worst salary-cap situation

#1, Vegas Golden Knights

The Vegas Golden Knights are currently $7.64 million over the salary cap, but that won't be the case once the season starts.

Vegas' star defenseman Alex Pietrangelo will be placed on LTIR as his career could be over due to an injury. He's making $8.8 million, so Vegas will have just over $1.1 million in cap space once that happens.

#2, Montreal Canadiens

The Montreal Canadiens are like the Golden Knights, who are currently over the cap, but can place someone on the LTIR to get under the cap.

The Canadiens are currently $5.9 million over the cap, but will have plenty of space once they place Carey Price on LTIR. The star goalie hasn't played in years and this is the final year of his deal as he's earning $10.5 million, so Montreal still has cap space to work with.

#3, Florida Panthers

The Florida Panthers are $3.73 million over the cap and could be forced to trade someone off their roster to be under the cap.

However, Matthew Tkachuk could begin the season on LTIR, which will allow Florida to begin the season under the cap and then figure it out in December once he's healthy again, as he's likely to need surgery soon.

#4, Edmonton Oilers

The Edmonton Oilers have just $225,834 in cap space, as Edmonton has filled out its roster and won't have much space to work with this season.

The Oilers got Evan Bouchard signed to an extension, which was key to the offseason, but Edmonton also saw some impact players leave due to the cap crunch.

#5, Philadelphia Flyers

The Philadelphia Flyers are barely under the cap, as the Flyers have $370,238 in cap space.

The Flyers are in their rebuild, so it's a surprise Philadelphia is so close to the cap. However, that includes nearly $2 million in a cap charge due to Cam Atkinson's buyout and nearly $5 million in salary retained in trades.