Matt Niskanen wasn’t totally shocked when the Washington Capitals traded him to Philadelphia last week.
One look at their salary cap picture explained it.
“I know what kind of situation Washington was in, so I knew there was a possibility,” he said.
General managers say there is more trade chatter now than at any time in recent years, and much of it has to do with a wide gap between the haves and have-nots across the NHL: A handful of teams know they will be up against the salary cap ceiling and many others have plenty of room and can use it to take on bad contracts to get better.