The Boston Bruins have officially unveiled their opening night lineup for the 2025–26 NHL season. Love it or loathe it, the debates can rage on in the chat forums. For now, let’s focus on what this roster means for the salary cap—both in the short term and down the road.
To start, this year’s NHL calendar spans 192 days, with 42 days left in the season once the trade deadline passes. That detail might not seem significant right now—but stay with me, it’ll matter soon enough.
On opening day, the Bruins’ 23-man roster carries a cap hit of $92,708,333. Factor in the retained salary for Brandon Carlo, and the total climbs to $93,323,333. That leaves Boston with $2,176,667 in cap space to work with.
With cap space to spare, the Bruins can navigate injuries without dipping into Long Term Injury Reserve—a tool that’s caused complications in seasons past. If someone on the roster isn’t meeting expectations, they’ve got the breathing room to swap them out with a replacement from Providence, even if the move isn’t a perfect dollar-for-dollar exchange.
The upside? No one on the Bruins’ opening night roster is eligible for performance bonuses. Down in Providence, the only potential bonus earners are Matthew Poitras ($80,000) and Fabian Lysell ($300,000), but the odds of either hitting those marks are slim. Boston shouldn’t need to budget for them. And even if those bonuses were somehow triggered and the team hit the cap ceiling, they could simply roll the overage into next season. The amounts are so minor, it’s barely a blip on the radar.
The cap figure is fluid—rosters shift throughout the 82-game grind, and with each change, so does the math. Every day at 5:00 p.m. EST, teams file their updated rosters with the league, and I track those changes right here (just check the cap header at the top of the page). For now, consider this your snapshot of where the Bruins stand.
With their current cap space, the Bruins could add player(s) at the trade deadline with a combined AAV of up to $9,950,478—no pro-rating required. That figure is calculated by dividing the available cap space by the number of days remaining after the deadline (42), then multiplying by the total number of days in the season (192). You can use this formula at any point in the year—just swap in the number of days left in the season for the 42 to get an updated threshold.
The Bruins suddenly find themselves with financial breathing room—a rarity in recent years—and they’ve got two clear paths to make the most of it:
If the Bruins find themselves out of playoff contention, they can leverage their cap space to absorb salary from a team looking to clear room for a postseason push. With the NHL and NHLPA tightening rules around double retention in trades—exceptions aside—Boston could step in as a facilitator, take on a contract, and pick up a valuable asset in the process.
If the Bruins are in the thick of a playoff race, their cap flexibility gives them the chance to add a player who can help now and stick around for the long haul—ideally someone younger with upside. Martin Necas is a name that’s already turning heads among fans, and he fits that profile perfectly
But what is beyond this season?
Short of bringing a player like Necas in this season, they are free and clear for next year without any bonus overages and are set to have $20.5 million in cap space without any major signings to current players needed.
But you have to spend wisely.
Dom - Hockey 