Hello and welcome back to the #1 doctor recommended most trusted weekly salary cap fantasy article. We're just breaking down walls when it comes to the cap.

This week is all about shedding salary…seriously, let's get some money off your books. I moved recently which meant finally going through a storage unit that I've had since 2021, and my wife and parents were helpful in assisting me in going through all my old things and determining what can go and what can stay. So, with that, let's look at your roster and take a good look at some contracts that you may just need to pitch to make for a nursery. Or something like that. You guys get the idea.

J.T. Compher C, Detroit Red Wings – $5M AAV

2025-2026 Regular Season

GP          G             A             PTS         PPP        TOI         PPTOI    SOG       HIT         BKS

30           4              7              11           0              15:49     0:37        38           12           21

When J.T. Compher was skating along a Cup-winning Colorado club, I'd say that maybe then the $5.1M price tag was well worth it for a player that could land about 50 points. Fast forward to today, and if you want to add him in the salary league that I'm in (2-7, it's gone awful), you can just go and pick him right on up. I can't lie, I have cap space and kicked the tires but seeing that Detroit is using him on the fourth line, I can get much cheaper centers from Pittsburgh, Anaheim, or even Radek Faksa in Dallas for cheaper. At this point it's about name recognition, sure, but unless you're extremely thin at the C position then you can part ways now and save yourself at least $3M in available spend.

Ondrej Palat LW, New Jersey Devils – $6M AAV

2025-2026 Regular Season

GP          G             A             PTS         PPP        TOI         PPTOI    SOG       HIT         BKS

30           2              3              5              1              12:50     0:56        32           48           24

I loved Ondrej Palat when he was on the Bolts, and even his first season in New Jersey where he was playing along the top line and receiving excellent power plat time. The problem is that he so far hasn't gotten back to the 40-point player that he was in Tampa Bay and for a player that has only scored 20 goalsonce in his career, $6M AAV becomes tough to swallow in dynasty-salary. For my league, I inherited my club, and Palat was one of the salaries I debated holding onto. It wasn't until I took a step back and looked at my roster as a whole and knew if I needed to get under the magic $104M mark, then this was an obvious place to trim salary. Hey, maybe I could use him seeing the way things are going, but if you're a club that is right up against the salary ceiling, then this is a very replicable player production-wise.

Jaccob Slavin, Carolina Hurricanes – $6.39M AAV

2025-2026 Regular Season

GP          G             A             PTS         PPP        TOI         PPTOI    SOG       HIT         BKS

2              0              0              0              0              18:32     0:03        2              0              3

Before you rush to the comments to tell me he's hurt I'll reassure you now that I'm up to speed here. Hey, when you're in two fantasy leaguesand write about fantasy and DFS as much as I do, you become aware if a player even sneezes funny. Slavin being hurt now for us is fine, you can stash his salary on your IR and go about your day. The issue is though that eventually he is going to return, which means that you'll have to part the sea to add in a $6.39M salary into the mix…unless your cap space looks like Will Smith in his emptyroom atthe end of Bel Air. If that's the case, disregard! If you're right up against it though, I do want to say take a step back and see where your club is and what you're adding back into your roster. If you have the space and need a D-man, then go for it. Where I worry is getting sucked into reading post after post of how well he is defensively. Believe me, when he's healthy he's easily one of the best blueliners in the game defensively, but keep in mind his salary reflects just that. Take for example, say Jonas Brodin. Great blueliner to have, and for a little bit there was in the conversation of one of the better defensive defensemen in the league but rostering him in fantasy at $6M doesn't really make much sense. Believe me, in our entry draft there Brodin was…round, after round.

Jared Spurgeon, Minnesota Wild – $7.75M AAV

2025-2026 Regular Season

GP          G             A             PTS         PPP        TOI         PPTOI    SOG       HIT         BKS

30           1              4              5              3              20:48     2:14        32           43           54

This is a tough one here as Jared Spurgeon is a player that I've always liked. This goes back to the playoff battles I would watch between the Hawks and Wild, to where the Spurgeon really stood out to me and at the time, may not havebeen a player that was on a lot of folks'radar. Now we find ourselves with a player in his age-36 season, coming in close to $8M AAV. If your club is light on defense, then I'd lean keeping him because he does still see some power play time and I guarantee if he hits waivers, other people will at least raise an eyebrow. The issue comes if you're right up near the salary ceiling and need to re-allocate funds around the roster and freeing up $7.75M opens a lot of doors. He's probably not going to be movedin a trade as making salaries match up gets difficult, so it's dependent on whether you can carry a higher salary for less production or if this is the case of letting a player go to have some salary flexibility.

*Salary Cap data from PuckPedia.com  

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