The Washington Capitals officially announced their purchase of CapFriendly on Wednesday, gaining control of a website that has arguably been the leader in providing NHL salary cap information and all business aspects of the league since its opening in January 2016.
Since then, CapFriendly has become a popular tool for hockey fans, media members, and perhaps even some teams to learn about each NHL franchise’s salary structure and players’ contracts in the league’s salary cap era, which began in 2005.
The site also has various interactive features and calculators, such as buyout, waiver, and qualifying offer calculators. It was not affiliated with the NHL until the Capitals purchased it for an undisclosed amount. The site is slated to go dark on July 5.
“The existing infrastructure will be a valuable addition to the team’s hockey operations department in many ways,” said Brian McLellan, the Capitals’ general manager and president of hockey operations, in a news release.
“We anticipate that this acquisition will significantly enhance and integrate the various branches of our hockey operations department, allowing us to strengthen our management, scouting, analytics, and player development, in addition to augmenting our salary cap and contractual applications.”
So why didn’t the San Jose Sharks purchase CapFriendly?
It turns out they already have something similar in place.
A Sharks team official said earlier this week that a change in CapFriendly’s ownership or the public’s ability to access those details wouldn’t have “any impact on the Sharks process of monitoring and tracking such information.”
The Sharks did hire CapFriendly founder Dominik Zrim as their director of salary cap management/CBA compliance in the fall of 2022, but he is no longer with the organization. Zrim had also previously worked with the Chicago Blackhawks during the 2021-22 season.
Other NHL teams, including Seattle, New Jersey, Chicago, Carolina, the New York Islanders, Toronto, Columbus, Pittsburgh, and Vegas, are believed to have already built a similar infrastructure, according to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, who broke the story Sunday.
But on his “32 Thoughts” podcast he co-hosts with Jeff Marek, Friedman said some clubs might now be “scrambling” to find their own replacement for CapFriendly.
“One of the things people are talking about here is what a huge blow, a disaster in particular, this is going to be for some teams if they don’t have their own setup,” Friedman said. “Whether it’s something really deep and in depth, or something that they can have that’s maybe not as good as CapFriendly, but at least exists so they can get through the next little while.
“Because if you don’t, you’re really going to be scrambling.”
CapFriendly was preceded by CapGeek, which went offline on March 19, 2015, following the death of its creator, Matthew Wuest, due to colon cancer.
CapFriendly states on its website that no site “displaying team & player salary cap information can tell their visitors about themselves without first talking about the site that started it all.
“CapGeek was the first site to open the door to NHL Salary Cap information for all to see. It was by far the most complete & detailed site ever created, & we, at CapFriendly, can say without a doubt that it was our favorite tool as NHL fans.”
However, NHL fans should not fret too long about CapFriendly’s closure to the public. PuckPedia has many of the same features as CapFriendly, and others unique to its site. Spotrac also contains NHL contract details but covers all North American pro leagues, while PuckPedia is specific to the NHL.