The 185 days of the 2022-2023 National Hockey League season used to calculate the cap is finally over and while the playoffs are set to begin – where there is no cap – there are those with one eye fixed on the cap and wonder how the Bruins move forward.
The Bruins needed to use the Long-Term Injury Reserve throughout the season to remain cap compliant – so did half the league. Charlie McAvoy (30 days), Taylor Hall (37 days), Jake DeBrusk (44 days) and Tomas Nosek (7 days) all spent time on LTIR throughout the season. Derek Forbort (25 days) and Nick Foligno (6 days) ended the season on LTIR.
Mike Reilly spent 28 days on the Bruins roster and the rest in Providence so he carried a buried cap hit of $2,045,270. Chris Wagner spent 6 days on the roster and the rest in Providence and carried a cap hit of $261,486. That is often referred to as “dead cap space”. Injuries also played a small role, forcing the team to call up re-enforcements from Providence cost $500,994.
When the Bruins used their final LTIR options, they had $39,504 in cap space. Their final cap hit charge is $84,053,490, excluding performance bonuses (more on that below). With an upper limit of $82,500,000 allowed that means the Bruins used $1,592,994 in LTIR ($84,053,490 – $82,500,000 – $39,504).
About those bonuses: We know that Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci achieved all their performance bonuses totaling $4.500,000. Those bonuses minus $39,054 in cap space will carry over to next season as bonus overages. Still to be determined are performance bonuses for Jeremy Swayman – $150,000 and Jakub Lauko – $82,500. If achieved, those bonuses would carry over to next season in full.
The Bruins, as they always do under Don Sweeney and Evan Gold got the team through the season. They’ll have their work cut out for them in the offseason with the cap guaranteed to rise just a million dollars to $83,500,000. The hope here is that the NHL hits a financial bonanza in the playoffs to help increase the cap.
Here is how 2023-2024 is looking:
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Dom - Hockey 
Tough situation. Any way you think we can hold onto Tyler Bertuzzi? Love his style of play and grit.
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