The Tampa Bay Lightning Are Skating It Back By Sliding Just Under The Salary Cap
As the dust cleared and the pucks dropped on the first games of an abbreviated 2021 NHL season, all that stood between the Tampa Bay Lightning and the salary cap limit was $334. General manager Julien BriseBois had the equivalent of just a little more than one personalized Lightning jersey in money left over.
BriseBois, a general manager renowned as a "capologist" for handling player contracts and keeping teams compliant with the league's salary cap, had his work cut out for him. After the Lightning won last season's Stanley Cup, they entered the offseason with a little over $5 million to play with and a number of restricted free agents to sign.
It's hard enough under normal circumstances for a defending champion team to keep its roster intact. NHL teams are subjected to a hard salary cap limit, meaning they don't even have the option to go over the limit and pay a luxury tax. The Pittsburgh Penguins in 2016 and 2017 remain the lone team to repeat as champs since the 2004-05 lockout brought us the salary cap. Those Penguins could count on a salary cap rise from $71.4 million during the 2015-16 season to $73 million the next, and they managed to run it back, or skate it back in this case, with little roster turnover.
The Lightning last offseason had a core of pricy stars plus...