The 2020-21 NHL season is going to be challenging for a lot of teams for salary cap and logistics reasons. In an effort to make the somewhat convoluted roster, cap and waivers situation for the Calgary Flames a little bit easier to follow, we’ve developed this page to keep track of things.
It will be kept updated throughout the season.
The salary cap
There’s really two salary caps, in a sense, so let’s get into the distinctions.
The “overall” season-long cap
For the entirety of the 2020-21 NHL season, teams are required to have average annual cap spending of less than $81.5 million. As in: the average annual cap hit of the players on their roster throughout the season cannot exceed $81.5 million.
(Well, except for weird stuff like long-term injury exemptions and performance bonuses, but for “regular” spending, it’s a hard cap.)
Conceptually, it’s easy to imagine the same 20-to-23 players sitting on the Flames’ roster all season. But that’s not how it works, because players get traded, injured, demoted and called up. So the actual cap impact of each player’s contract depends on how many days they’re on the roster.
Daily cap calculations
The NHL season is 116 days long in 2020-21. Every day at 3 p.m. MT, the NHL’s Central Registry takes a snapshot of the players on each team’s roster. The cap hits of the players are logged and pro-rated for that day (e.g., their cap hit divided by 116 to get their daily cap impact) and savings below the overall cap also logged and pro-rated. It’s best to think of the cap savings like a piggy bank or change jar: you toss in the coins you didn’t spend, and you can only spend what you’ve previously saved.
Here’s the Flames’ starting roster (with overall cap hits), as filed with the NHL:
- Goalies: Jacob Markstrom ($6 million), David Rittich ($2.75 million)
- Defensemen: Mark Giordano ($6.75 million), Noah Hanifin ($4.95 million), Rasmus Andersson ($4.55 million), Chris Tanev ($4.5 million), Juuso Valimaki ($894,166), Nikita Nesterov ($700,000)
- Forwards: Matthew Tkachuk ($7 million), Johnny Gaudreau ($6.75 million), Sean Monahan ($6.375 million), Mikael Backlund ($5.35 million), Milan Lucic ($5.25 million), Elias Lindholm ($4.85 million), Sam Bennett ($2.55 million), Andrew Mangiapane ($2.425 million), Josh Leivo ($875,000), Dillon Dube ($778,333), Joakim Nordstrom ($700,000), Dominik Simon ($700,000)
- Buy-outs: Troy Brouwer ($1.5 million), Michael Stone ($1.167 million)
- Taxi squad (cap hit only count while they’re on NHL roster unless noted): G Louis Domingue ($700,000), D Oliver Kylington ($787,500), D Connor Mackey ($925,000), F Zac Rinaldo ($700,000), F Buddy Robinson ($700,000), F Derek Ryan ($3.125 million, $2.05 million while on taxi squad)
The overall cap commitments of the Flames’ opening roster, including the two buy-outs and Ryan’s buried salary, was $79,414,167.
Date | Roster Size | Total Cap Hits | Total Cap Space | Daily Space | Notes |
Jan. 13, 2021 | 20 | $79,414,166 | $2,085,834 | $17,981 | Starting roster |
Jan. 14, 2021 | 22 | $81,189,166 | $310,834 | $2,680 | Added Ryan & Domingue from taxi; Zagidulin to taxi from AHL; Rittich non-roster |
Jan. 15, 2021 | 20 | $79,414,166 | $2,085,834 | $17,981 | Ryan & Domingue back to taxi; Zagidulin to AHL; Rittich activated |
Jan. 16, 2021 | 22 | $81,276,666 | $223,334 | $1,925 | Added Ryan & Kylington from taxi |
Jan. 17, 2021 | 20 | $79,414,166 | $2,085,834 | $17,981 | Ryan & Kylington back to taxi |
Jan. 18, 2021 | 22 | $81,276,666 | $223,334 | $1,925 | Added Ryan & Kylington from taxi |
Jan. 19, 2021 | 21 | $80,114,166 | $1,385,834 | $11,947 | Added Stone (signed); Ryan & Kylington back to taxi |
Jan. 20, 2021 | 20 | $79,414,166 | $2,085,834 | $17,981 | Stone to AHL |
Jan. 21, 2021 | 20 | $79,414,166 | $2,085,834 | $17,981 | No changes |
Jan. 22, 2021 | 20 | $79,414,166 | $2,085,834 | $17,981 | No changes |
Jan. 23, 2021 | 20 | $79,414,166 | $2,085,834 | $17,981 | No changes |
Jan. 24, 2021 | 22 | $81,276,666 | $223,334 | $1,925 | Added Ryan & Kylington from taxi |
Jan. 25, 2021 | 20 | $79,414,166 | $2,085,834 | $17,981 | Ryan & Kylington back to taxi |
Jan. 26, 2021 | 22 | $81,276,666 | $223,334 | $1,925 | Added Ryan & Kylington from taxi |
Jan. 27, 2021 | 21 | $80,114,166 | $1,385,834 | $11,947 | Added Stone from AHL |
Jan. 28, 2021 | 22 | $81,189,166 | $310,834 | $2,680 | Added Ryan & Robinson from taxi; Stone to taxi |
Jan. 29, 2021 | 21 | $80,114,166 | $1,385,834 | $11,947 | Ryan back to taxi |
Jan. 30, 2021 | 21 | $80,489,166 | $1,010,834 | $8,714 | Added Ryan; Robinson back to taxi |
Jan. 31, 2021 | 21 | $80,114,166 | $1,385,834 | $11,947 | Added Robinson; Ryan back to taxi |
Feb. 1, 2021 | 22 | $81,414,166 | $85,834 | $740 | Added Ryan & Mackey; Robinson back to taxi |
Feb. 2, 2021 | 22 | $81,414,166 | $85,834 | $740 | No changes |
Feb. 3, 2021 | 21 | $80,114,166 | $1,385,834 | $11,947 | Added Robinson; Ryan & Mackey back to taxi |
Feb. 4, 2021 | 22 | $81,189,166 | $310,834 | $2,680 | Added Ryan & Rinaldo; Robinson back to taxi |
Feb. 5, 2021 | 21 | $80,489,166 | $1,010,834 | $8,714 | Rinaldo back to taxi |
Feb. 6, 2021 | 23* | $82,839,166* | $0* | $0* | Added Froese from AHL; added Mackey & Rinaldo; Ryan to LTIR |
Feb. 7, 2021 | 20* | $80,489,166* (Below ACSL) | $698,491* | $6,021* | Mackey & Rinaldo back to taxi; Froese back to AHL |
Feb. 8, 2021 | 20* | $80,489,166* (Below ACSL) | $698,491* | $6,021* | No changes |
Feb. 9, 2021 | 23* | $82,839,166* | $0* | $0* | Added Mackey (from taxi), Froese & Ritchie (from AHL) |
Feb. 10, 2021 | 22* | $81,889,166* | $0* | $0* | Added Robinson; Mackey & Froese to taxi; Gawdin to taxi from AHL; Stone to AHL |
Feb. 11, 2021 | 23* | $82,839,166* | $0* | $0* | Added Mackey & Froese; Ritchie to taxi |
Feb. 12, 2021 | 22* | $81,889,166* | $0* | $0* | Added Ritchie; Mackey & Froese to taxi |
Feb. 13, 2021 | 23* | $82,839,166* | $0* | $0* | Added Mackey & Froese; Ritchie to taxi |
Feb. 14, 2021 | 22* | $81,914,166* | $0* | $0* | Mackey to taxi |
Feb. 15, 2021 | 23* | $82,839,166* | $0* | $0* | Added Mackey |
Feb. 16, 2021 | 20* | $80,489,166* (Below ACSL) | $698,491* | $6,021* | Mackey, Robinson & Froese to taxi; Gawdin & Ritchie to AHL |
Feb. 17, 2021 | 23* | $82,701,666* | $0* | $0* | Added Kylington, Froese & Ritchie |
Feb. 18, 2021 | 21* | $81,214,166* | $0* | $0* | Kylington & Ritchie to taxi |
Feb. 19, 2021 | 23* | $82,839,166* | $0* | $0* | Added Mackey & Ritchie |
Feb. 20, 2021 | 23* | $82,676,666* | $0* | $0* | Added Gawdin, Kylington & Robinson; Mackey to AHL; Ritchie & Froese to taxi; Domingue to AHL from taxi; Zagidulin & Stone to taxi from AHL |
Feb. 21, 2021 | 22* | $81,889,166* | $0* | $0* | Kylington to taxi |
Feb. 22, 2021 | 23* | $82,676,666* | $0* | $0* | Added Zagidulin & Kylington; Robinson to taxi |
Feb. 23, 2021 | 22* | $81,889,166* | $0* | $0* | Kylington to taxi |
Feb. 24, 2021 | 23* | $82,676,666* | $0* | $0* | Added Kylington |
Feb. 25, 2021 | 23** | $83,239,166* | $0* | $0* | Added Rinaldo & Robinson; Kylington to taxi; Markstrom to IR |
Feb. 26, 2021 | 21** | $81,889,166* | $0* | $0* | Gawdin & Rinaldo to taxi |
Feb. 27, 2021 | 23** | $83,376,666* | $0* | $0* | Added Gawdin & Kylington |
Feb. 28, 2021 | 21** | $81,889,166* | $0* | $0* | Gawdin & Kylington to taxi |
Mar. 1, 2021 | 22** | $82,676,666* | $0* | $0* | Added Rinaldo & Kylington; Robinson to taxi |
Mar. 2, 2021 | 20** | $81,189,166* | $0* | $0* | Rinaldo & Kylington to taxi; Gawdin to AHL |
Mar. 3, 2021 | 21* | $81,189,166 | $310,834 | $2,680 | Ryan activated from LTIR |
Mar. 4, 2021 | 22 | $81,276,666 | $223,334 | $1,925 | Markstrom activated from IR; added Kylington & Ritchie; Simon to taxi; Zagidulin to AHL from taxi; Domingue to taxi from AHL |
Mar. 5, 2021 | 21 | $80,201,666 | $1,298,334 | $11,193 | Ryan to taxi; Froese to AHL |
Mar. 6, 2021 | 22 | $81,276,666 | $223,334 | $1,925 | Added Ryan |
Mar. 7, 2021 | 22 | $81,189,166 | $310,834 | $2,680 | Added Rinaldo; Kylington to taxi |
Mar. 8, 2021 | 21 | $80,114,166 | $1,385,834 | $11,947 | Added Simon; Rinaldo & Ryan to taxi |
Mar. 9, 2021 | 21 | $80,114,166 | $1,385,834 | $11,947 | No changes |
Mar. 10, 2021 | 21 | $80,114,166 | $1,385,834 | $11,947 | No changes |
Mar. 11, 2021 | 22 | $81,189,166 | $310,834 | $2,680 | Added Ryan & Rinaldo; Simon to taxi |
Mar. 12, 2021 | 21 | $80,114,166 | $1,385,834 | $11,947 | Added Simon; Rinaldo & Ryan to taxi |
Mar. 13, 2021 | 22 | $81,276,666 | $223,334 | $1,925 | Added Ryan & Kylington; Simon to taxi |
Mar. 14, 2021 | 21 | $80,114,116 | $1,385,834 | $11,947 | Added Simon; Ryan & Kylington to taxi |
Mar. 15, 2021 | 22 | $81,276,666 | $223,334 | $1,925 | Added Ryan & Kylington; Simon to taxi |
Mar. 16, 2021 | 21 | $80,114,116 | $1,385,834 | $11,947 | Added Simon; Ryan & Kylington to taxi |
Mar. 17, 2021 | 22 | $81,276,666 | $223,334 | $1,925 | Added Ryan & Kylington; Simon to taxi; Domingue & Stone from taxi to AHL; Zagidulin & Petrovic from AHL to taxi |
Mar. 18, 2021 | 21 | $80,114,116 | $1,385,834 | $11,947 | Added Simon; Ryan & Kylington to taxi |
Mar. 19, 2021 | 22 | $81,276,666 | $223,334 | $1,925 | Added Ryan & Kylington; Simon to taxi |
Mar. 20, 2021 | 23 | $81,889,166 | -$389,166 | -$3,355 | Added Petrovic & Rinaldo; Kylington to taxi |
Mar. 21, 2021 | 21 | $80,114,166 | $1,385,834 | $11,947 | Added Simon; Rinaldo, Ryan & Petrovic to taxi |
Mar. 22, 2021 | 23 | $81,889,166 | -$389,166 | -$3,355 | Added Rinaldo, Ryan & Petrovic; Simon to taxi |
Mar. 23, 2021 | 21 | $80,489,166 | $1,010,834 | $8,714 | Rinaldo & Petrovic to taxi |
Mar. 24, 2021 | 23 | $81,889,166 | -$389,166 | -$3,355 | Added Rinaldo & Petrovic |
Mar. 25, 2021 | 22 | $81,189,166 | $310,834 | $2,680 | Petrovic to taxi; Zagidulin to AHL from taxi; Domingue & Stone to taxi from AHL |
Mar. 26, 2021 | 22 | $81,189,166 | $310,834 | $2,680 | Added Stone; Rinaldo to taxi |
Mar. 27, 2021 | 22 | $81,189,166 | $310,834 | $2,680 | No changes |
Mar. 28, 2021 | 22 | $81,189,166 | $310,834 | $2,680 | No changes |
Mar. 29, 2021 | 22 | $81,189,166 | $310,834 | $2,680 | No changes |
Mar. 30, 2021 | 22 | $81,189,166 | $310,834 | $2,680 | No changes |
Mar. 31, 2021 | 22 | $81,189,166 | $310,834 | $2,680 | No changes |
Apr. 1, 2021 | 22 | $81,189,166 | $310,834 | $2,680 | No changes |
Apr. 2, 2021 | 22 | $81,189,166 | $310,834 | $2,680 | No changes |
Apr. 3, 2021 | 22 | $81,189,166 | $310,834 | $2,680 | No changes |
Apr. 4, 2021 | 22 | $81,189,166 | $310,834 | $2,680 | No changes |
Apr. 5, 2021 | 22 | $81,189,166 | $310,834 | $2,680 | No changes |
Apr. 6, 2021 | 22 | $81,189,166 | $310,834 | $2,680 | No changes |
Apr. 7, 2021 | 22 | $81,189,166 | $310,834 | $2,680 | No changes |
Apr. 8, 2021 | 22 | $81,189,166 | $310,834 | $2,680 | No changes |
Apr. 9, 2021 | 22 | $81,189,166 | $310,834 | $2,680 | No changes |
Apr. 10, 2021 | 22 | $81,189,166 | $310,834 | $2,680 | No changes |
Apr. 11, 2021 | 22 | $81,189,166 | $310,834 | $2,680 | No changes |
Apr. 12, 2021 | 22 | $78,664,166 | $2,835,834 | $24,447 | Rittich to Toronto (50% retained); Bennett to Florida; added Robinson & Domingue; Zagidulin & Ruzicka to taxi from AHL |
Apr. 13, 2021 | 22 | $78,664,166 | $2,835,834 | $24,447 | No changes |
Apr. 14, 2021 | 22 | $78,664,166 | $2,835,834 | $24,447 | No changes |
Apr. 15, 2021 | 22 | $78,664,166 | $2,835,834 | $24,447 | No changes |
Apr. 16, 2021 | 22 | $78,664,166 | $2,835,834 | $24,447 | No changes |
Apr. 17, 2021 | 22 | $78,664,166 | $2,835,834 | $24,447 | Kirkland to taxi from AHL; Simon, Petrovic and Ruzicka to AHL from taxi |
Apr. 18, 2021 | 22 | $78,664,166 | $2,835,834 | $24,447 | Simon to taxi from AHL; Kirkland to AHL from taxi |
Apr. 19, 2021 | 22 | $78,664,166 | $2,835,834 | $24,447 | No changes |
Apr. 20, 2021 | 22 | $78,664,166 | $2,835,834 | $24,447 | No changes |
Apr. 21, 2021 | 22 | $78,664,166 | $2,835,834 | $24,447 | No changes |
Apr. 22, 2021 | 22 | $78,664,166 | $2,835,834 | $24,447 | No changes |
Apr. 23, 2021 | 22 | $78,664,166 | $2,835,834 | $24,447 | Leivo to COVID list |
Apr. 24, 2021 | 23 | $79,451,666 | $2,048,334 | $17,658 | Added Kylington; Gawdin and Froese to taxi from AHL |
Apr. 25, 2021 | 23 | $79,451,666 | $2,048,334 | $17,658 | No changes |
Apr. 26, 2021 | 23 | $79,451,666 | $2,048,334 | $17,658 | Mackey to taxi from AHL |
Apr. 27, 2021 | 23 | $79,451,666 | $2,048,334 | $17,658 | No changes |
Apr. 28, 2021 | 23 | $79,451,666 | $2,048,334 | $17,658 | No changes |
Apr. 29, 2021 | 24 | $80,176,666 | $1,323,334 | $11,408 | Added Froese |
Apr. 30, 2021 | 24 | $80,176,666 | $1,323,334 | $11,408 | No changes |
May 1, 2021 | 24 | $80,176,666 | $1,323,334 | $11,408 | No changes |
May 2, 2021 | 24 | $80,176,666 | $1,323,334 | $11,408 | No changes |
May 3, 2021 | 24 | $80,176,666 | $1,323,334 | $11,408 | No changes |
May 4, 2021 | 24 | $80,176,666 | $1,323,334 | $11,408 | No changes |
May 5, 2021 | 24 | $80,176,666 | $1,323,334 | $11,408 | No changes |
May 6, 2021 | 24 | $80,176,666 | $1,323,334 | $11,408 | No changes |
May 7, 2021 | 24 | $80,176,666 | $1,323,334 | $11,408 | Leivo off COVID list |
May 8, 2021 | 24 | $80,176,666 | $1,323,334 | $11,408 | No changes |
May 9, 2021* | 25 | — | — | — | Added Gawdin |
May 10, 2021* | 25 | — | — | — | No changes |
May 11, 2021* | 25 | — | — | — | No changes |
May 12, 2021* | 25 | — | — | — | No changes |
May 13, 2021* | 25 | — | — | — | No changes |
May 14, 2021* | 25 | — | — | — | No changes |
May 15, 2021* | 25 | — | — | — | No changes |
May 16, 2021* | 28 | — | — | — | Added Ruzicka, Simon & Mackey |
May 17, 2021* | 25 | — | — | — | Ruzicka to AHL, Simon & Mackey to taxi |
May 18, 2021* | 28 | — | — | — | Added Ruzicka, Simon & Mackey; Poolman, Yelesin & Phillips to taxi from AHL |
May 19, 2021* | 29 | — | — | — | Added Phillips |
To date: (116 of 116 days) | — | — | — | $925,270 | Cap savings only accumulated through May 8. |
Our pals at PuckPedia also have a handy daily tracker. (Stars next to roster size reflect number of players on IR at a given time not included in roster limit.)
The cap season ended on May 8, but since the Flames’ season was extended by 11 days they are required to operate with a cap compliant roster and the league will need to approve any transactions they make from May 9-19. Our understanding is the team is allowed to spend cap savings from earlier in the season during that period.
While Derek Ryan was on LTIR (Feb. 6 to Mar. 2), their temporary cap ceiling was $84,312,657 and their “Accruable Cap Space Limit” was $312,343 below the $81.5 million cap ceiling (e.g., the cap ceiling minus the space they had when they put Ryan on LTIR) or $81,187,657.
Waiver status
After a player who requires waivers to be demoted has cleared, they can be freely demoted (and recalled) for the remainder of that season until they have (a) dressed for 10 NHL games or (b) been on the NHL roster for 30 days, whichever comes first.
[Last update: May 8, 2021 (roster days; calculations based on 116-day NHL season); May 15, 2021 (NHL games)]
Player | Date cleared | NHL games since | Roster days since |
F Dominik Simon | Mar. 4, 2021 | 0 | 8 |
F Derek Ryan | Mar. 3, 2021 | 33 | 58 |
D Michael Stone | Jan. 19, 2021 | 21 | 46 |
F Brett Ritchie | Jan. 18, 2021 | 32 | 71 |
F Zac Rinaldo | Jan. 12, 2021 | 4 | 10 |
F Derek Ryan | Jan. 12, 2021 | 10 | 36 |
D Oliver Kylington | Jan. 12, 2021 | 8 | 32 |
F Buddy Robinson | Jan. 11, 2021 | 9 | 43 |
D Alex Petrovic | Jan. 11, 2021 | 0 | 3 |
F Justin Kirkland | Jan. 11, 2021 | 0 | 0 |
F Byron Froese | Jan. 11, 2021 | 6 | 19 |
G Louis Domingue | Jan. 11, 2021 | 16 | 28 |
Need waivers, but weren’t waived: David Rittich, Mark Giordano, Noah Hanifin, Rasmus Andersson, Chris Tanev, Nikita Nesterov, Matthew Tkachuk, Johnny Gaudreau, Sean Monahan, Mikael Backlund, Elias Lindholm, Sam Bennett, Andrew Mangiapane, Josh Leivo, Joakim Nordstrom, Dominik Simon, Brett Ritchie [Jan. 18 exemption expired], Derek Ryan [Jan. 12 and Mar. 3 exemptions expired], Michael Stone [Jan. 19 exemption expired], Buddy Robinson [Jan. 11 exemption expired], Louis Domingue [Jan. 11 exemption expired], Oliver Kylington [Jan. 12 exemption expired]
Need waivers, but can’t be waived: Jacob Markstrom, Milan Lucic [They have no-move clauses.]
Waiver exempt: Juuso Valimaki, Dillon Dube
For even more salary cap, waivers and CBA information, head on over to PuckPedia!
