Four NHL Teams With The Cleanest Salary Cap Sheets Heading Into 2026-27

The NHL salary cap is recalculated each year based on the league's revenue. The salary cap for the 2026–2027 season is $104 million at the upper limit, with the cap floor at $76.9 million. The maximum salary for individual contracts is $20.8 million.

For teams to be considered to have a clean overall cap sheet, it can consist of multiple factors, including no dead cap space, positive-value contracts, flexibility, staggered expiration dates, and minimal movement restrictions.

Let's take a look at contending teams with some of the cleanest cap sheets.

The 2026 Stanley Cup champions have had a structured cap sheet for around six years now, listed first in The Athletic's NHL contract efficiency ranking. While most championship teams go through a roster-gutting off-season, the Carolina Hurricanes have further extended their core and have already locked down players for years to come.

A key factor in the Hurricanes' clean cap sheet is keeping contracts under the $10-million threshold. Sebastian Aho, the team's highest-paid player at $9.75 million per year, is followed by Nikolaj Ehlers at $8.5 million and Andrei Svechnikov at $7.75 million, giving their top line a combined $26 million in average annual value.

These contract terms also run for the long term. Svechnikov's deal lasts three more seasons, while Ehlers and Aho's contracts run until 2030-31 and 2031-32, respectively.

When signing both Jaccob Slavin and Seth Jarvis to eight-year extensions, they structured their signing bonuses to include a deferred payment structure after their contracts expire. Doing this lowered Jarvis's cap hit to $7.4 million.

Now heading into the 2026–2027 season, they had 13 of their 14 rostered forwards and five of their seven defensemen already under contract.

Breaking their playoff drought last year, the Buffalo Sabres feature one of the cleanest long-term salary cap sheets due to avoiding anchor contracts and locking down a young core on early-value extensions.

With an anchored blueline in Rasmus Dahlin, signed at $11 million per year until 2031-32, and Owen Power at an $8.35 million AAV through 2030-31, the sheet stays clean by paying their top-tier pillars early and not overpaying secondary assets.

An example came during the off-season when they traded Alex Tuch, who had a $10.5 million AAV asking price, signing him and then instantly moving him to the Washington Capitals in a sign-and-trade deal, and moved Bowen Byram, another defenseman, to the Chicago Blackhawks instead of committing to a massive extension for another defenseman ($12.5 million from 2027-28 to 2032-33).

Having a strict salary structure similar to the Hurricanes, the Montreal Canadiens keep all players, stars included, under double digits, with captain Nick Suzuki signed to an eight-year, $7.875-million-per-year contract to set a benchmark for the rest of the core and the group as a whole.

Cole Caufield sits at a $7.85 million AAV and Juraj Slafkovsky at a $7.60 million AAV, with young stars to be building blocks for the group, like Lane Hutson at an $8.85 million AAV. Their core and top talent stay well within a manageable range.

Using the bridge-contract strategy and signing manageable contracts that allow players to prove themselves, such as Kirby Dach and Arber Xhekaj, the Canadiens maintain flexibility while continuing to develop their young core.

With a lack of long-term financial commitments, it will actually play in favor of the Pittsburgh Penguins.

For years, the Penguins carried the burden of early-2020s buyouts, needing to eliminate dead money. Now, using short-term deals rather than locking mid-tier free agents into four- to six-year contracts, the front office has shifted to short-term security, with the recent wave of signings, including Arturs Silovs and Nick Robertson, structured as short-term bridge deals that keep the individual AAV low while allowing the team to evaluate talent.

The Pens entered the 2026–2027 season with around $45.8 million in raw cap space before RFA contracts and depth signings. With a full active roster, they still have $10.05 million in cap space, with massive chunks of salary expiring in the 2027–2028 season.

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