Hello all and welcome back to the world's #1 destination for all things salary cap as it pertains to the NHL. I would write about the NFL cap but I'm convinced that's not a real thing. Either way, for this week let's take a stroll around the league and see what's what with different players and clubs.

Calum Ritchie – C/LW/RW – Colorado – 19 years old

Contract: $2.85M (ELC) – $950K AAV – One year remaining

GP          G             A             PTS         PPP        TOI         PPTOI    SOG       HIT         BKS

6              1              0              1              0          13:42     0:38      11           6              2

Weird starting place, right? More so I think this sheds light on the Avs current health situation in the very early going of this season. Had Calum Ritchie played in four more games this season, the Avs would not have been able to slide his entry level entry-level deal. This would have meant that the cap hit would be the average of his remaining salary due over the actual contract length. Ritchie was demoted on Wednesday night, though, so it won't be an issue for this season.

The Avalanche right now have four players on IR, and two on LTIR. They'll have room to bring players up and down, but this is an issue right now in the NHL that we hit last season but not to this extent. Right now, as it stands 13 teams do not have enough cap space to bring up a player on a league minimum salary. The poster child for this last season was Minnesota who went 11-7 I feel like a quarter of the season, but something to keep an eye on for clubs as we move along in the season.

Jake Oettinger – G – Dallas – 25 years old

Contract: $66M (extension) – $8.25M AAV – Eight years remaining – NMC 2026-31, M-NTC 2031-33

GP          W           GAA       SV%       QS%       SO

4              4           1.48      0.953     100.0     1

Last week Jake Oettinger signed an eight-year $66M dollar extension, and got the day off work as well. I mean, that's not a bad afternoon if you ask me! I wanted to touch on this contract though because, as I've referenced it here, I thought that Jeremy Swayman and his deal was going to reset the goalie market. Swayman, $8.25AAV, Linus Ullmark, $8.25AAV, now we have Jake Oettinger with an $8.25AAV. I'd say that Igor Shesterkin will fall at that number but just have a hunch here that he's going to exceed it.

If I'm a Dallas fan I love this. I have my core group either under contract or arbitration eligible for the next two seasons along with my netminder inked to a long term deal. The flexibility that this club is going to have in the next couple years is going to be fantastic for a team that could win a Cup right now.

For Oettinger and fantasy, this is a goaltender that I think every season for the past two or three I've put a couple dollars on to win the Vezina. You could even go with a one-goaltender strategy with him most weeks and he'll still account for good stats in category leagues or H2H points.

Ville Husso – G – Detroit – 29 years old

Contract: $14.25M – $4.75M AAV – Upcoming UFA, M-NTC

GP          W           GAA       SV%       QS%       SO

1              0           9.42       0.714      0.0          0

I, for one, added Ville Husso for a spot start in his lone start of the season and it went so well that he was put on waivers the following day. Surprise! Nobody claimed him and his cap number but what's the issue here is for a Detroit team with an iffy blue line and not a great defensive forward group, they needed Husso to provide them some support. It's safe to say that he can't this season, he earned a shutout in his first start for AHL Grand Rapids, but when it's a goaltender like Husso who has a higher AAV than Cam Talbot and Alex Lyon combined, having him play in the AHL is not ideal.  

I'm just spit balling here…is there a Colorado trade here waiting to happen? If I'm the Avalanche I can't say I love that my goaltender has a GSAA that's 50% worse than the next closest goaltender. Sure, everything comes back to the mean of some sort, but I just want to put this out there that if I'd have a team on radar here it would be the Avalanche.

Vince Dunn – D – Seattle – 27 years old

Contract: $29.4M – $7.35M AAV – Two years remaining – M-NTC

GP          G             A             PTS         PPP        TOI         PPTOI    SOG       HIT         BKS

4              1              2              3              2          18:49     1:51        10           4            10

This one stinks. I hate to see players get hurt especially those that I love to watch play. The Kraken have placed Vince Dunn on LTIR and is expected to miss at least 3-4 weeks with a mid-body injury. With this injury and LTIR designation, the Kraken will be able to exceed the cap by $7.35M.

For Kraken fans, and those who roster Dunn in fantasy, this one bites, but there are options to help fill the blue line if you were looking for players on Seattle to play a larger role. Brandon Montour will likely quarterback the Seattle top power play, as he did previously last week when Dunn was out of the lineup.

*Salary Cap data from PuckPedia.com  

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