The salary cap is the trickiest problem for maintaining a good team. Players that play well expect to get pay raises. Especially with the NHL’s punitive salary rules in which players cannot earn their first real pay day until age 27. This typically means that NHL players get only one big pay day before age 30. Being that age 30 is typically the beginning of a player’s production dropping off, this makes getting that one big contract extremely important.
This is why that come every July 1, a feeding frenzy ensues. With the biggest fish always being the players that are hitting unrestricted free agency for the first time.