As of now the Pittsburgh Penguins are staring down a financial problem that will require solving within a week when the NHL salary cap begins. The upper limit this year is $81,500,000.
With a full 23-man roster, the Pens’ problem is the salary of all those players is $81,699,125 million AND they owe a $132,500 bonus overage from last year due to Jake Guentzel hitting his entry level numbers. That adds up to $81.831m, or $331,625 over the upper limit.
Beyond just barely scraping under the limit, teams really need to clear it by a bit in the event of injury call-ups or to allow flexibility to build throughout the year to make trade deadline additions.