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 | $79,414,167 | $2,085,833 | $17,981 | Starting roster |
| Jan. 14, 2021 | 22 | $81,189,167 | $310,833 | $2,680 | Added Ryan & Domingue from taxi |
| Jan. 15, 2021 | 20 | $79,414,167 | $2,085,833 | $17,981 | Ryan & Domingue back to taxi |
| Jan. 16, 2021 | 22 | $81,276,667 | $223,333 | $1,925 | Added Ryan & Kylington from taxi |
| Jan. 17, 2021 | 20 | $79,414,167 | $2,085,834 | $17,981 | Ryan & Kylington back to taxi |
| Jan. 18, 2021 | 22 | $81,276,667 | $223,334 | $1,925 | Added Ryan & Kylington from taxi |
| Jan. 19, 2021 | 21 | $80,114,167 | $1,385,834 | $11,947 | Added Stone (signed); Ryan & Kylington back to taxi |
| Jan. 20, 2021 | 20 | $79,414,167 | $2,085,834 | $17,981 | Stone to AHL |
| Jan. 21, 2021 | 20 | $79,414,167 | $2,085,834 | $17,981 | No changes |
| Jan. 22, 2021 | 20 | $79,414,167 | $2,085,834 | $17,981 | No changes |
| Jan. 23, 2021 | 20 | $79,414,167 | $2,085,834 | $17,981 | No changes |
| Jan. 24, 2021 | 22 | $81,276,667 | $223,334 | $1,925 | Added Ryan & Kylington from taxi |
| Jan. 25, 2021 | 20 | $79,414,167 | $2,085,834 | $17,981 | Ryan & Kylington back to taxi |
| Jan. 26, 2021 | 22 | $81,276,667 | $223,334 | $1,925 | Added Ryan & Kylington from taxi |
| Jan. 27, 2021 | 21 | $80,114,167 | $1,385,834 | $11,947 | Added Stone from AHL |
| Jan. 28, 2021 | 22 | $81,189,167 | $310,834 | $2,680 | Added Ryan & Robinson from taxi; Stone to taxi |
| Jan. 29, 2021 | 21 | $80,114,167 | $1,385,834 | $11,947 | Ryan back to taxi |
| Jan. 30, 2021 | 21 | $80,489,167 | $1,010,834 | $8,714 | Added Ryan; Robinson back to taxi |
| Jan. 31, 2021 | 21 | $80,114,167 | $1,385,834 | $11,947 | Added Robinson; Ryan back to taxi |
| Feb. 1, 2021 | 22 | $81,414,167 | $85,834 | $740 | Added Ryan & Mackey; Robinson back to taxi |
| Feb. 2, 2021 | 22 | $81,414,167 | $85,834 | $740 | No changes |
| Feb. 3, 2021 | 21 | $80,114,167 | $1,385,834 | $11,947 | Added Robinson; Ryan & Mackey back to taxi |
| Feb. 4, 2021 | 22 | $81,189,167 | $310,834 | $2,680 | Added Ryan & Rinaldo; Robinson back to taxi |
| Feb. 5, 2021 | 21 | $80,489,167 | $1,010,834 | $8,714 | Rinaldo back to taxi |
| Feb. 6, 2021 | 23* | $82,839,167* | $0* | $0* | Added Froese from AHL; added Mackey & Rinaldo; Ryan to LTIR |
| Feb. 7, 2021 | 20* | $80,489,167* (Below ACSL) |
$698,491* | $6,021* | Mackey & Rinaldo back to taxi; Froese back to AHL |
| Feb. 8, 2021 | 20* | $80,489,167* (Below ACSL) |
$698,491* | $6,021* | No changes |
| Feb. 9, 2021 | 23* | $82,839,167* | $0* | $0* | Added Mackey (from taxi), Froese & Ritchie (from AHL) |
| Feb. 10, 2021 | 22* | $81,889,167* | $0* | $0* | Added Robinson; Mackey & Froese to taxi; Gawdin to taxi from AHL; Stone to AHL |
| Feb. 11, 2021 | 23* | $82,839,167* | $0* | $0* | Added Mackey & Froese; Ritchie to taxi |
| Feb. 12, 2021 | 22* | $81,889,167* | $0* | $0* | Added Ritchie; Mackey & Froese to taxi |
| Feb. 13, 2021 | 23* | $82,839,167* | $0* | $0* | Added Mackey & Froese; Ritchie to taxi |
| Feb. 14, 2021 | 22* | $81,914,167* | $0* | $0* | Mackey to taxi |
| Feb. 15, 2021 | 23* | $82,839,167* | $0* | $0* | Added Mackey |
| Feb. 16, 2021 | 20* | $80,489,167* (Below ACSL) |
$698,491* | $6,021* | Mackey, Robinson & Froese to taxi; Gawdin & Ritchie to AHL |
| Feb. 17, 2021 | 23* | $82,701,667* | $0* | $0* | Added Kylington, Froese & Ritchie |
| Feb. 18, 2021 | 21* | $81,214,167* | $0* | $0* | Kylington & Ritchie to taxi |
| Feb. 19, 2021 | 23* | $82,839,167* | $0* | $0* | Added Mackey & Ritchie |
| Feb. 20, 2021 | 23* | $82,676,667* | $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* | $81,889,167* | $0* | $0* | Kylington to taxi |
| Feb. 22, 2021 | 23* | $82,676,667* | $0* | $0* | Added Zagidulin & Kylington; Robinson to taxi |
| Feb. 23, 2021 | 22* | $81,889,167* | $0* | $0* | Kylington to taxi |
| Feb. 24, 2021 | 23* | $82,676,667* | $0* | $0* | Added Kylington |
| Feb. 25, 2021 | 23** | $83,239,167* | $0* | $0* | Added Rinaldo & Robinson; Kylington to taxi; Markstrom to IR |
| Feb. 26, 2021 | 21** | $81,889,167* | $0* | $0* | Gawdin & Rinaldo to taxi |
| Feb. 27, 2021 | 23** | $83,376,667* | $0* | $0* | Added Gawdin & Kylington |
| Feb. 28, 2021 | 21** | $81,889,167* | $0* | $0* | Gawdin & Kylington to taxi |
| To date: (47 of 116 days) | — | — | — | $256,297 |
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 Flames have $256,297 of cap space banked from prior days. Until Derek Ryan is activated from the LTIR (which cannot happen until at least Mar. 1), their new cap ceiling is $84,312,657, but they cannot accumulate additional cap savings unless they daily cap hit is below the “Accruable Cap Space Limit,” which is $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: Feb. 27, 2021]
| Player | Date cleared | NHL games since | Roster days since |
| D Michael Stone | Jan. 19, 2021 | 0 | 2 |
| F Brett Ritchie | Jan. 18, 2021 | 2 | 5 |
| F Zac Rinaldo | Jan. 12, 2021 | 1 | 3 |
| F Derek Ryan | Jan. 12, 2021 | 10 | 34 |
| D Oliver Kylington | Jan. 12, 2021 | 2 | 9 |
| F Buddy Robinson | Jan. 11, 2021 | 4 | 16 |
| D Alex Petrovic | Jan. 11, 2021 | 0 | 0 |
| F Justin Kirkland | Jan. 11, 2021 | 0 | 0 |
| F Byron Froese | Jan. 11, 2021 | 6 | 9 |
| G Louis Domingue | Jan. 11, 2021 | 1 | 1 |
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, Derek Ryan (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!