4 Teams That Will Have Retention Spots Freed Up This Offseason

Retaining salary cap on trades in the NHL has become a regular thing, but teams have to be vigilant of just who they retain cap for as there are only three spots. So retaining cap on players with multiple years left on their deals hurts teams sometimes.

Players who are dealt at the trade deadline and are pending UFAs usually always get their salary retained as it isn't a commitment and is over by the summer. Some teams were in a bad place ahead of this years' deadline, but there are four teams who will be freed up from at least one of their retention spots this summer, and it is important as they are all at the bottom of the standings.

The four teams retaining cap on three players include the Boston Bruins, Philadelphia Flyers, Chicago Blackhawks, and San Jose Sharks.

The Bruins made a number of trades at the deadline, including all three players that they are retaining cap on this season. Trent Frederik went to the Edmonton Oilers, Brad Marchand to the Florida Panthers, and Brandon Carlo to the Toronto Maple Leafs. While the Bruins are retaining over $3 million on Marchand's contract, Carlo is the only one who will still be on the books past this season (two more in fact).

The Flyers aren't in as great of a situation as Boston is. They traded Andrei Kuzmenko to the LA Kings and Scott Laughton to the Maple Leafs this year, retaining cap on both. Kuzmenko is the only contract that is done after this season though. The other player is Kevin Hayes who the team traded prior to this season. Philadelphia is retaining over $3.5 million AAV for another season after this one. At least they'll be completely freed up after next season unless another trade is made.

Like the Flyers, two of the three players the Blackhawks are retaining cap on were traded this season. The other is Jake McCabe who the Blackhawks traded to the Maple Leafs in 2023. Chicago retained half of Mikko Rantanen's contract in a three-team trade this year to up their return when trading Taylor Hall. Both McCabe and Rantanen come off the books this summer. As for Seth Jones, the Blackhawks are stuck paying $2.5 million AAV for five more years. At least they are still rebuilding and have the space.

The fourth team, the Sharks, broke things down prior to 2023, but the last straw came in 2024 when Tomas Hertl was dealt to the Vegas Golden Knights. The Sharks retained $1.387 million AAV on his contract and it lasts five more years. The other two are Erik Karlsson and Brent Burns. The latter is fortunately in the last year of his contract, but San Jose has been retaining $2.7 million per season for a while. Karlsson has spent two years in Pittsburgh now, and to get that deal done, the Sharks had to retain $1.5 million AAV. Karlsson still has two more years on his deal. The rebuilding Sharks will only have one spot to work with next year, but it is better than the zero that they had this season.