To make this more interesting, I divided the big picture, as I pinned division against division and conference against conference, Hopefully to show you that parity is not only on the ice, but also can be in the numbers (cap spending), and could explain why trades are not being done as often as under the old CBA.
Using the numbers from nhlscap.com, I lined up the estimated cap charges, for each team in each division. Added them up and divided by five, which gave me an average for teams from a division. Once all the divisions where all added up, I took the total for the conference and divided by 15. Then grouped every thing to together, and it gave me the league’s approximate average cap spending per team. So let’s start with the Eastern Conference. Numbers used are dated from December 10th 2007.
NorthEast Division
| Cap Hit | Paid out | Remaining | Cap Space |
| $48,147,289 | $18,795,466 | $29,351,823 | $2,152,711 |
Atlantic Division
| Cap Hit | Paid out | Remaining | Cap Space |
| $46,673,743 | $18,220,231 | $28,453,512 | $3,626,257 |
SouthEast Division
| Cap Hit | Paid out | Remaining | Cap Space |
| $44,346,582 | $17,074,620 | $27,223,720 | $5,953,418 |
Eastern Conference
| Cap Hit | Paid out | Remaining | Cap Space |
| $46,389,205 | $18,030,106 | $28,343,018 | 3,904,129 |
Central Division
| Cap Hit | Paid out | Remaining | Cap Space |
| $44,784,646 | $17,295,392 | $27,489,254 | $5,515,354 |
NorthWest
| Cap Hit | Paid out | Remaining | Cap Space |
| $48,107,689 | $18,573,757 | $29,533,932 | $2,192,311 |
Pacific
| Cap Hit | Paid out | Remaining | Cap Space |
| $44,547,937 | $17,390,371 | $27,157,566 | $5,752,063 |
Western Conference
| Cap Hit | Paid out | Remaining | Cap Space |
| $45,813,424 | $17,753,173.20 | $28,060,250.40 | $4,486,576.20 |
NHL
| Cap Hit | Paid out | Remaining | Cap Space |
| $46,101,314 | $17,891,639 | $28,201,634 | $4,195,352 |
Six teams in the Eastern conference are below that conference’s average. Five teams are below the Western conference’s average. Twelve teams are below the league’s average.
Hope you enjoyed the exercise. This is not written in stone, it’s more to give you all a general idea of what teams are spending and what Gm’s face on a daily basis.
