Back in June when the rosters first came out, we posted a look at all eight teams by their total salary cap hit. Now that the tournament is upon us, I want to update things for how life has changed in the last three months for both the teams who had to replace players and the players who got new contracts. We even have a change in rank from the last time!

Before we get into the details, I want to get to the disclaimers:

As of this writing, there are eight unsigned RFAs playing and five UFAs. Until we get new contract information, we’re working off their last deals. That’s going to make a big difference for Team NA (Gaudreau, Trouba), Team Sweden (Rakell, Lindholm), and Team Russia (Kucherov, Orlov, Nesterov). It will make a smaller difference for the Czechs with Michal Jordan and Jakub Nakladal. The Finns won’t have much with Lauri Korpikoski, but Rasmus Ristolainen could be a good chunk. Team Europe has Ehrhoff and Seidenberg. I think the biggest effect on the rankings could be that Team North America could jump up in the rankings. Unsigned players will be highlighted in blue below.

There are 11 KHL-only players in this tourney. They belong to Team Finland, the Czech Republic, and Russia. Where I have found salary information, I have put it in, but can’t speak for the accuracy of these dollars. Where I have found no information, I have put the player’s salary as $925K (representing the maximum Paragraph 1 salary of an NHL ELC). I have doubts about several of these, but an inaccurate placeholder is better than putting in $0. KHL players will be highlighted in Red.

Players on ELCs have their bonuses factored into their salary as though they are earned.

If a player already has an extension for next year that’s way bigger (looking at you, Ekblad and Hedman), only his current salary will be counted.

Buyouts aren’t factored into a player’s cap hit (Hi Vanek!)

With that in mind, let’s get to the rankings!

#8 - Team Czech Republic

Current AAV: $65,109,166

Players Missing: Radko Gudas, Tomas Hertl, David Krejci

Replacements: Tomas Kundratek, Michal Birner, Roman Cervenka

New Contracts: Petr Mrazek, Dmitrij Jaskin, Tomas Plekanec

Salary Difference: -$4,167

The Czechs were already looking to be the worst team in the tournament and only got worse with the injury losses. Still without Jaromir Jagr, the Czech squad will rely on KHL replacements and hope that they can win this thing on the back of whichever goaltender best channels Dominik Hasek. This is the only team in the entire tournament which would fit under the NHL’s salary cap.

Czech Republic Radek Faksa $1,338,333 Martin Hanzal $3,100,000 Ales Hemsky $4,000,000 Michal Birner $925,000 Dmitri Jaskin $1,000,000 Roman Cervenka $3,900,000 Milan Michalek $4,000,000 Ondrej Palat $3,333,333 David Pastrnak $925,000 Tomas Plekanec $6,000,000 Vladimir Sobotka $4,000,000 Jakub Voracek $8,250,000 Michael Frolik $4,300,000 Tomas Kundratek $925,000 Michal Jordan $625,000 Michal Kempny $1,137,500 Zbynek Michalek $3,200,000 Jakub Nakladal $925,000 Roman Polak $2,250,000 Andrej Sustr $1,450,000 Petr Mrazek $4,000,000 Michal Neuvirth $1,625,000 Ondrej Pavelec $3,900,000 Total $65,109,166 Average $2,830,833 Goalie Total $9,525,000 Forwards Total $45,071,666 Defense Total $10,512,500

#7 - Team Finland

Current AAV: $73,081,666

Players Missing: None

New Contracts: Sami Vatanen, Patrik Laine,

Salary Difference: $3,412,500

The notoriously healthy Finns didn’t lose a single player to offseason injury/apathy, making them the only team in the tournament to avoid such a bug. Sami Vatanen’s new deal pushed them just over the NHL cap, but honestly with the three KHL players on there, I wouldn’t be surprised if that roster would fit. I think the Finns are going to rely on their goaltending and on slowing the pace down. They’re a pretty talented squad, but not among the elite here.

Finland Sebastian Aho $925,000 Aleksander Barkov $5,900,000 Joonas Donskoi $1,137,500 Valtteri Filppula $5,000,000 Mikael Granlund $3,000,000 Erik Haula $1,000,000 Jussi Jokinen $4,000,000 Mikko Koivu $6,750,000 Leo Komarov $2,950,000 Lauri Korpikoski $2,500,000 Patrik Laine $3,575,000 Jori Lehtera $4,700,000 Teuvo Teravainen $1,460,833 Jyrki Jokipakka $900,000 Sami Lepisto $925,000 Esa Lindell $925,000 Olli Maatta $4,083,333 Ville Pokka $1,775,000 Rasmus Ristolainen $1,775,000 Sami Vatanen $4,875,000 Mikko Koskinen $925,000 Tuukka Rask $7,000,000 Pekka Rinne $7,000,000 Total $73,081,666 Average $3,177,464 Goalie Total $14,925,000 Forwards Total $42,898,333 Defense Total $15,258,333

#6 - Team North America

Current AAV: $79,353,333

Players Missing: Sean Monahan

Replacements: Vincent Trocheck

New Contracts: Nathan MacKinnon, JT Miller, Mark Scheifele, Auston Matthews, Seth Jones, Sean Monahan

Salary Difference: $13,742,500

Congratulations to Team Windfall for jumping over the Finnish team thanks to a whole bunch of ELC deals expiring and being replaced. In fairness, I think this team is still kind of underpaid for the talent they have, but we’re also not counting eventual new deals for Gaudreau and Trouba, nor are we counting the near-doubling of Aaron Ekblad’s salary already set for next season. This team is going to be competitive and will be the poster example of how the NHL salary structure for young superstars helps set the blueprint for success in the cap era.

North America Sean Couturier $4,333,333 Jonathan Drouin $3,194,167 Jack Eichel $3,775,000 Johnny Guadreau $1,850,000 Dylan Larkin $1,425,000 Nathan MacKinnon $6,300,000 Auston Matthews $3,775,000 Connor McDavid $3,775,000 JT Miller $2,750,000 Vincent Trocheck $4,750,000 Ryan Nugent-Hopkins $6,000,000 Brandon Saad $6,000,000 Mark Scheifele $6,125,000 Aaron Ekblad $3,775,000 Shayne Gostisbehere $1,420,833 Seth Jones $5,400,000 Ryan Murray $2,825,000 Colton Parayko $925,000 Morgan Rielly $5,000,000 Jacob Trouba $1,827,500 John Gibson $2,300,000 Connor Hellebuyck $925,000 Matt Murray $902,500 Total $79,353,333 Average $3,450,145 Goalie Total $4,127,500 Forwards Total $54,052,500 Defense Total $21,173,333

#5 - Team Europe

Current AAV: $86,554,167

Players Missing: Frederik Andersen

Replacements: Philipp Grubauer

New Contracts: Mikkel Boedker, Frans Nielsen, Thomas Vanek

Salary Difference: -$1,550,000

Not a lot changed for Europe since June other than how much I care about them as a Red Wings fan now that Nielsen and Vanek are joining Tatar. They lost their third-string goalie and two of their defensemen can’t find work in the NHL right now, but there’s talent on this squad. Probably not enough talent, but hey, I don’t see you out there representing your countr...uhh... amalgamated team.

Europe P.E. Bellemare $712,500 Mikkel Boedker $4,000,000 Leon Draisaitl $3,400,000 Marian Gaborik $4,875,000 Jannik Hansen $2,500,000 Marian Hossa $5,275,000 Anze Kopitar $10,000,000 Nino Niederreiter $2,666,667 Frans Nielsen $5,250,000 Tobias Rieder $925,000 Tomas Tatar $2,750,000 Thomas Vanek $2,600,000 Mats Zuccarello $4,500,000 Zdeno Chara $6,500,000 Christian Ehrhoff $1,500,000 Roman Josi $4,000,000 Dennis Seidenberg $4,000,000 Andrej Sekera $5,500,000 Luca Sbisa $3,600,000 Mark Streit $5,250,000 Philipp Grubauer $750,000 Thomas Greiss $1,500,000 Jaroslav Halak $4,500,000 Total $86,554,167 Average $3,763,225 Goalie Total $6,750,000 Forwards Total $49,454,167 Defense Total $30,350,000

#4 - Team Russia

Current AAV: $89,065,962

Players Missing: Slava Voynov (Good riddance)

Replacements: Nikita Nesterov

New Contracts: Pavel Datsyuk, Vladislav Namestnikov, Alexei Marchenko

Salary Difference: -$4,053,292

The second-biggest salary drop in the tourney leaves Team Russia right where they were in fourth place. This was achieved mostly because of Voynov being unwelcome and Datsyuk’s half-off KHL deal. The lost generation of Russian defensemen is going to continue to haunt this team, but they got where they are salary-wise on forwards and goalies and those positions are going to get them as far as they’re going to go in this tourney.

Russia Artem Anisimov $4,550,000 Evgeny Dadonov $1,600,000 Pavel Datsyuk $3,800,000 Nikita Kucherov $894,167 Nikolay Kulemin $4,187,500 Evgeny Kuznetsov $3,000,000 Evgeni Malkin $9,500,000 Vladislav Namestnikov $1,937,500 Alex Ovechkin $9,538,462 Artemi Panarin $3,500,000 Vadim Shipachyov $3,000,000 Ivan Telegin $925,000 Vladimir Tarasenko $7,500,000 Alexei Emelin $4,100,000 Dmitry Kulikov $4,333,333 Alexey Marchenko $1,450,000 Andrei Markov $5,750,000 Dmitry Orlov $2,000,000 Nikita Nesterov $925,000 Nikita Zaitsev $1,775,000 Sergei Bobrovsky $7,425,000 Semyon Varlamov $5,900,000 Andrei Vasilevskiy $1,475,000 Total $89,065,962 Average $3,872,433 Goalie Total $14,800,000 Forwards Total $53,932,629 Defense Total $20,333,333

#3 - Team Sweden

Current AAV: $103,498,928

Players Missing: Niklas Kronwall, Henrik Zetterberg, Alex Steen, Robin Lehner

Replacements: Hampus Lindholm, Mikael Backlund, Rickard Rakell, Jhonas Enroth

New Contracts: Filip Forsberg, Loui Eriksson

Salary Difference: -5,575,000

The big movers & shakers in terms of lost salary, Team Sweden had a busy summer of filling out their ranks and then refilling them due to nagging injuries. New contracts helped offset almost $12M in injury-replaced salary (although in fairness, the Rakell and Lindholm hits are too low for the still-unsigned RFAs). The thing with all the replacements for Sweden is that a lot of people think they got better due to the Lindholm/Kronwall replacement. Personally I don’t know how much it offsets the forward replacements, but Sweden is going to be a powerhouse.

Sweden Nicklas Backstrom $6,700,000 Loui Eriksson $6,000,000 Filip Forsberg $6,000,000 Patric Hornqvist $4,250,000 Carl Hagelin $4,000,000 Marcus Kruger $3,083,333 Gabriel Landeskog $5,571,429 Daniel Sedin $7,000,000 Henrik Sedin $7,000,000 Jakob Silfverberg $3,750,000 Carl Soderberg $4,750,000 Rickard Rakell $925,000 Mikael Backlund $3,575,000 Mattias Ekholm $3,750,000 Oliver Ekman-Larsson $5,500,000 Victor Hedman $4,000,000 Niklas Hjalmarsson $4,100,000 Erik Karlsson $6,500,000 Hampus Lindholm $1,744,166 Anton Stralman $4,500,000 Jhonas Enroth $750,000 Henrik Lundqvist $8,500,000 Jacob Markstrom $1,550,000 Total $103,498,928 Average $4,499,953 Goalie Total $10,800,000 Forwards Total $62,604,762 Defense Total $30,094,166

#2 - Team USA

Current AAV: $134,350,730

Players Missing: Ryan Callahan

Replacements: Kyle Palmieri

New Contracts: David Backes

Salary Difference: $350,000

A team dedicated to "not giving up an inch," Team USA is the first of the mega-spenders at this tournament. For all the AAV they’re throwing head-first into John Tortorella’s lap, Team USA has some self-imposed depth problems. They’re definitely good enough to place in this tournament and winning wouldn’t be out of the question, but they’re worse than Canada at every position, most-importantly coaching.

USA Justin Abdelkader $4,250,000 David Backes $6,000,000 Kyle Palmieri $4,650,000 Brandon Dubinsky $5,850,000 Patrick Kane $10,500,000 Ryan Kesler $6,875,000 TJ Oshie $4,175,000 Max Pacioretty $4,500,000 Zach Parise $7,538,461 Joe Pavelski $6,000,000 Derek Stepan $6,500,000 James van Riemsdyk $4,250,000 Blake Wheeler $5,600,000 Dustin Byfuglien $7,600,000 John Carlson $3,966,666 Erik Johnson $6,000,000 Jack Johnson $4,357,142 Ryan McDonagh $4,700,000 Matt Niskanen $5,750,000 Ryan Suter $7,538,461 Ben Bishop $5,950,000 Jonathan Quick $5,800,000 Cory Schneider $6,000,000 Total $134,350,730 Average $5,891,336 Goalie Total $17,750,000 Forwards Total $76,688,461 Defense Total $39,912,269

#1 - Team Canada

Current AAV: $153,592,142

Players Missing: Jamie Benn, Duncan Keith, Jeff Carter

Replacements: Logan Couture, Jay Bouwmeester, Corey Perry

New Contracts: Steven Stamkos

Salary Difference: $4,963,812

It’s a testament to Team Canada that Stamkos got a $1M AAV raise and the team still ended up almost $5M more expensive thanks to injury replacements. Canada more than doubles up the current Salary cap and holds nearly a $20M edge over the US in terms of what guys get paid. The thing here is the same as with Team USA though: neither team was even allowed to pick from the relatively cheap talent pool of the young guns squad. This is Canada’s tournament to lose and them doing so should force the Hall of Fame to relocate to some shitty town in Ohio or something.