- Detroit leads the NHL with $19,572,084 in cap space, per PuckPedia
- Seattle and Vancouver are the only other clubs above $17 million
- Read below for the full top 10 and why most of that money is already spoken for
Detroit has more money to spend than anybody in hockey right now.
PuckPedia has the Red Wings sitting on $19,572,084 in cap space with training camp about a month out. Seattle is second at $18,405,537 and Vancouver third at $17,814,167.
We ran the full board on our timeline Tuesday:
Three clubs clear $14 million and the tenth spot still sits above $9 million. Here is the whole top 10:
| # | Team | Cap Space |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Red Wings | $19,572,084 |
| 2 | Kraken | $18,405,537 |
| 3 | Canucks | $17,814,167 |
| 4 | Flames | $14,883,334 |
| 5 | Flyers | $13,782,083 |
| 6 | Blue Jackets | $13,495,001 |
| 7 | Penguins | $10,902,640 |
| 8 | Hurricanes | $9,880,182 |
| 9 | Canadiens | $9,783,924 |
| 10 | Ducks | $9,073,395 |
SleeperNHL pulled the board off PuckPedia’s tracker Monday:
Most of that money is already promised to somebody.
Simon Edvinsson is still unsigned in Detroit, and those talks are frozen until the Red Wings hire a general manager. A cap hit north of $9 million on the Swede would swallow half the pile before the new boss touches anything else.
Anaheim has the same issue at the bottom of the list. Cutter Gauthier turned down a four-year offer from the Ducks this week, and $9,073,395 will not stretch far once he puts a pen to something.
Columbus belongs in that group too. The Blue Jackets are sixth at $13,495,001 with Adam Fantilli still waiting on a contract.
Every one of these figures runs against a $104 million ceiling for 2026-27, and the cap is projected to jump to $113.5 million the following year.
That second number is why Detroit’s pile matters beyond this season. Alex DeBrincat, Justin Faulk, John Gibson and Andrew Copp all come off the books next summer, and Kevin Allen of Detroit Hockey Now wrote Monday that Steve Yzerman’s successor could walk into the 2027 free agent market with close to $40 million.
Nobody in the top three has spent a dollar of it yet. The Red Wings cannot until somebody is hired to sign the checks.
