Boston Bruins to Face Substantial Salary Cap Penalty Next Season

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Dorin Canaday
April 23, 2023 (12:54)

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With the NHL salary cap expected to raise only $1 million in the 2023-24 season, the Boston Bruins are one of several teams that will face overages, and it's significantly more than the next closest.

Will It Be Worth It?

This past summer, Don Sweeney was able to agree on one-year extensions with veteran's Patrice Bergeron ($2.5 million cap hit) and David Krejci ($1 million cap hit).

However, Bergeron's salary is split into $1 million in signing bonuses and $1.5 million in base salary, while Krejci's comes with a $2 million performance bonus.

Due to the Bruins utilizing LTIR to exceed the cap during the regular season temporarily, the final team cap hit was over the maximum of $82.5 million. One of the negative consequences is those performance bonuses have to carry over to the next season.

As per Puck Pedia:

At the conclusion of the season, the performance bonuses earned by players are added to their team's final season cap hit. If the resulting total exceeds the cap ($82.5 million), the excess is a cap hit for the following season as a performance bonus carryover overage cap charge.

Below are the top-15 teams that will face cap overages in the 2023-24 season, with Boston leading the way:

BOS: $4,500,000
PHI: $1,187,500
MTL: $1,170,000
EDM: $850,000
VAN: $850,000
COL: $637,500
NYR: $610,891
CAR: $450,000
NJD: $422,500
DAL: $372,829
FLA: $212,500
SEA: $129,910
SJS: $25,000
STL: $20,000
WSH: $20,000

Sweeney was forced to use long-term injured reserve multiple times this season. But it also allowed him to add Tyler Bertuzzi, Dmitry Orlov and Garnet Hathaway, without sacrificing much from his roster.

Will it be worth it?