NHL general managers enter the free agent signing period on Monday with a little more money to spend.
After years of a mostly flat salary cap due to the COVID pandemic, it's going up from $83.5 million to $88 million. But the number of free agents is also larger because many players had signed one-year deals last summer in hopes of landing a bigger contract this offseason.
Two of the bigger names, forward Jake Guentzel and defenseman Chris Tanev, had their rights traded during the weekend, giving the Tampa Bay Lightning and Toronto Maple Leafs, respectively, more time to negotiate.