The NHL spending hasn't been that wild this offseason

At least not at the top. Also checking in on the best and worst offseason performances so far.

There is one rule you should always follow when it comes to the NHL trade deadline or offseason: Don’t believe the hype.

Every year we go through the same thing around these two events. Big rumors, big speculation, talk of how we are “in for a wild day,” and then … nothing really major happens. I don’t think it’s due to a lack of effort from teams, but it’s really hard to make trades sometimes both in terms of finding a match and making it work financially under the salary cap. The NHL also just doesn’t typically have the sort of big, bold roster movement of, say, the NBA. It’s usually just underwhelming.

There was another layer added into the hype this summer with the salary cap finally making a big jump.

After remaining mostly stagnant in the $88 million range over the past few years, it finally took a big jump up to $95 million this season and will make equally large jumps over the next few offseasons. Those increases have changed the math on existing contracts and recent contract extensions, and also led to a belief that players were really going to cash in this summer with teams having more money to spend.

Mitch Marner for $13 or $14 million?

Could Sam Bennett get $9 or $10 million per season?

Was Vladislav Gavrikov going to be a $10 million per year defenseman or the most expensive player to sign on July 1?

How much were players like Nikolaj Ehlers and Brock Boeser going to get? The numbers might shock you!

And then …. they didn’t? Everything was pretty much right in line with what you would expect from a normal NHL offseason. There were obvious overpays to be sure, but they were the type of overpays and mistakes that you typically see every offseason. This year’s Cody Ceci was 2023’s Ryan Graves. These things just happen as teams get desperate or are just …. dumb.

But let’s just look at some numbers for a quick comparison:

• Starting with June 1, there have been 20 contracts signed for a salary cap hit larger than $6 million per season. Out of that group, 14 have been worth more than $7 million per season and seven have topped $8 million per season.

• There have been nine that have been signed that have been worth more than 8 percent of the salary cap.

• Compare that to last offseason between June 1 and August 1 when there were 19 contracts signed for more than $6 million, 13 signed for more than $7 million and seven for more than $8 million.

• There were also 13 contracts signed for more than 8 percent of the salary cap.

There are still potentially more contracts to be signed this summer before August 1 to match up with the same timeline, and last year’s crop of free agents was probably a little bit better, but it wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. Some of the second-tier players probably got a little more money than they otherwise would have, but from a big picture perspective … it’s been a pretty run-of-the-mill offseason. Maybe even a little quiet. Perhaps even dull. Maybe that will change if the trade market ever picks up.

Now let’s check in with some more NHL offseason thoughts from around the league, including some team’s I have liked, and some teams I haven’t liked.

Offseasons I like so far