The salary cap stagnated this year, leaving NHL GMs up against rising salaries, young stars demanding to get paid, and the siren call of a talented free agent class. With an initial projection over the winter of up to $83.5 million, rapidly revised downward in the week leading up to the draft all the way to $81.5 million, GMs found themselves with very little time to change their plans before the free agency window opened.
Some players, like the San Jose Sharks’ Erik Karlsson, had already signed big extensions—Karlsson’s is an eight-year contract at $11.