As we are all likely aware by now, the Washington Capitals have decided to ruin everyone's lives by purchasing and sunsetting CapFriendly. The site has gone dark as of July 10, 2024.
While the hockey community has experienced a similar loss before, with the death of Matthew Wuest and the subsequent loss of CapGeek, this is a markedly different situation that sets a troubling precedent - namely, that freely usable, public NHL data is now available to the highest bidder, who can then revoke access to the data at a minute's notice. Two things can coexist: we can be happy for the makers of CapFriendly that they are being compensated well for their services while also scorning the Washington Capitals organization for choosing to turn off CapFriendly entirely.
Under the cut, please find a list of free CapFriendly alternatives and other websites that contain NHL data. (In some cases, they are mostly free - however, most/all important information for lay analysis is available for free.) This list is dynamic and taking suggestions, so please feel free to send me any websites you find at @stereax and check the original post for updates!
PART 1: SALARY CAP TRACKERS
PuckPedia: The New CapFriendly
PuckPedia is the closest replacement to CapFriendly currently available. It contains salary cap information for all teams and players, draft pick information, several calculators including a buyout calculator and a pick value calculator, agent information, and more. They also run PuckDoku! The biggest strike against PuckPedia is its lack of simulators (Armchair GM, mock draft, or trade simulators); however, in the wake of the CapFriendly news, PuckPedia shared that an Armchair GM simulator is under active development. 07/05 Update: PuckGM is here! You can also react to prospective PuckGMs (thumbs up, thumbs down, laugh, think emojis).
CapSized: Labor of Love
Referred to me by @nonslipdoormat and billed as a "solo female developer's project" (nonslipdoormat IS said developer!), CapSized is a site that's designed similarly to CapFriendly. It has some features other sites lack, such as trade histories going back to 2003 (with some entries as old as 1964!) and a detailed transactions page again stretching YEARS into the past. The more you poke around, the more cool things you uncover. Its primary purpose is to be a "visual database", but calculators and an NHL GM mode are on the list of future additions. I'll be dead honest, I think this is my favorite cap-checker site because of all the extra utilities. Super excited to see where this project goes!
Referred to me by @reavenedges-lies. A "baby site" that has some of the basics of salary cap info, plus a buyout calculator, qualifying offer calculator, and trade proposal maker. The trade proposal maker is prone to error and seems to only be useful for graphics. It can be a useful site for some, but it would not be my first choice.
CapWages: CapFriendly Lite
Another alternative to PuckPedia that mimics CapFriendly in design and is more intuitive for users going directly from CapFriendly to an alternative site. Like PuckPedia, it now features a GM mode, but the GM mode is in beta and is not fully functional (it only shows contracts currently existing at the NHL level). Nevertheless, for checking salary cap info, it is very good and I recommend it. Also now has a buyout calculator.
CapSpace: Young Gun
BenchWarmers: Greenhorn
Similar to CapSpace but perhaps a little better in the design department. I like how, if you don't have an account, it acts like you're Kyle Dubas and has you watching Toronto and Carolina. Has a few neat stats (like "core four" which shows how much the four most expensive players are making) that I haven't seen easily replicated on other sites, but functionality is rather limited outside of that, which is why it's also not my first choice.
Spotrac: Another Salary Cap Checker
An alternative to PuckPedia for salary cap information. However, it lacks much of the information and functionality of PuckPedia or most other sites listed here.
PART 2: ADVANCED STATS
NaturalStatTrick: The Holy Grail of Stats
NaturalStatTrick, or NatStat for short, is a site that contains just about any stat you can think of for any team or player. It has a learning curve but is generally understood to be the most reliable stat tracker available for free. You can even view stats for individual games on it!
MoneyPuck: DTWoMeter and More
You know it from the Deserve-to-Win-o-Meter or its playoff odds rings, but MoneyPuck has a lot of useful data as well if you do a little browsing. Generally, I've heard that MoneyPuck is less accurate than NatStat, but is easier to use, especially on mobile.
HockeyViz: "If I Ever Sell, I Failed"
Home of the Simple Hockey Charts, HockeyViz has a visual for just about every stat out there. You've almost certainly seen some of them before. Most of them are completely free to the public! They're super useful for visualizing stats as more than "just numbers", allowing you to see exactly WHERE things are happening on the ice.
HockeyStatCards: GameScore Kings
Again, you've probably seen HockeyStatCards's GameScore charts. Using data from NatStat (see above) and an algorithm created by Dom Luszczyszyn, it provides a simple GameScore number that tells you whether a player is having a positive or negative impact on the ice for every game in the NHL.
PART 3: SPECIALIZED SITES
NHL Armchair GM: Building Rosters
This site allows you to Armchair GM a roster. Notably, it has a steeper learning curve than CapFriendly and does not have a forum or other way to easily save and publicize your Armchair GM moves. However, it can be useful to make Armchair GMs and have visuals for them.
NHL Entry Draft: With the First Overall Pick...
This site contains a ton of draft resources, from a mock draft simulator to scouting reports. Definitely a useful site for those who are interested in the entry draft. I've seen a couple of mock draft sites, but this one seems to have by far the easiest and arguably most expansive way to use it.
NHL Injury Viz: Rulers of LTIR
Here, you can explore the relationship between the injuries of players, their cap hits, and how teams did without them. Very useful when you're arguing that a certain player going down doomed the team.
PART 4: MORE TYPES OF DATA
HockeyReference: The Good Old Days
Hockey Reference is best used for surface level data about older players. It has some trivia sections as well, for if you ever wanted to know all players wearing certain jersey numbers, sharing a certain birthday, or hailing from Alaska.
EliteProspects: Every League Imaginable
Want to know the roster of a third-tier league in Quebec? EliteProspects has you covered. Literally every league on the face of the Earth, currently existing and not, EliteProspects has info on. Any player you can possibly name, EliteProspects has their stats from atom hockey all the way to the end of their career.
HockeyDB: Another Spot for Stats
HockeyDB, referred to me by @reavenedges-lies, is another solid site for looking up basic hockey stats. Also has a ton of leagues, similar to EliteProspects. Has a hockey card feature as well that shows you cards featuring the player you've looked up, which is neat!
PART 5: FORUMS
HFBoards: Hockey Forums
Probably the most well-known hockey forum out there. If you want to talk puck on a more forum-like site, similar to CapFriendly's forums, this is the one for you.
PART 6: CAPFRIENDLY ARCHIVES
SergeiFyodorov's CapFriendly FAQ Drive
Curated by @sergeifyodorov. Originally posted here and sent to me by @fellowshipofthegay. Archives of the CapFriendly FAQs!
Got a site that's not listed here? Let me know at @stereax and I'll add it! Remember: While CapFriendly may be going away, hockey analysis is here to stay!
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Hey guys, if you haven't already, check out CapSized, the cap/trade/contract/literally-anything-you-can-think-of tracker!
After CapFriendly became the property of the Capitals, there was a void in the cap-tracker world which led to the creation of CapSized. Billed to me as a "solo female developer's project" by the wonderful Traxe (@nonslipdoormat), CapSized has grown significantly over the past few months, and I've been fortunate enough to help out with data entry, feature testing, and setting up the Discord. CapSized combines the best of both worlds: a place to observe happenings around the NHL and a comprehensive player information database. (And it's often the most accurate site out there!)
In my only mostly nonbiased opinion, the sheer utility of CapSized and its features is unparalleled by any other cap-tracker, which has made it my go-to - and I've seen so many cap-trackers. Features of CapSized include the ability to view player contract signings and details, view teams' cap situations, sort teams by filters like cap space/roster spots/cap hit, filter and sort players by just about any metric you can think of, look at previous draft results, and pore over trades as you wonder why your GMs are allowed to make stupid decisions. (You can now be fully informed when you yell at Kyle Dubas for the Graves and Jarry deals!) New features are being rolled out fairly frequently too, so if there's a utility you'd like, and you give us a shout, it could be part of the next update!
As a wise person once said, "Do you like sortable tables? CapSized is your friend."
Take a look:
Speaking of trades, CapSized has a mock trade feature where you can send just about anyone just about anywhere. McDavid for Palat with zero retention, anyone? Another awesome component of the site is that game lines are updated daily, so you can always check where your favorites are in the lineup. (Or if theyβre not, because your coach personally wants to see you lose at fantasy...)
Check it out:
All of this to say - we're very excited about the site's future and wanted to let you know so that you can be a part of it! The CapSized Discord is now live, so feel free to join if you wanna have the latest updates on the site or just to chat :) Happy analyzing!
Welcome to CapSized, your new favorite cap/trade/contract/literally-anything-you-can-think-of tracker! | 10 members
If you like CapSized, why not reblog this post to spread the word?
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It wonβt happen until July, but according to multiple sources, the Washington Capitals have reached an agreement to purchase the outstanding
SO WHAT ARE THE TEAMS AND FANS SUPPOSED TO USE NOW?????
YES I AM WE ARE ALL WELL AWARE HOW PREPOSTEROUS IT IS THAT A PRO SPORTS LEAGUE'S TEAMS DEPEND ON A 3RD PARTY SITE FOR TEAM OPERATIONS
Oh ok thanks caps??????? Pls wtf is going on. Yea ofc the league must have an internal db for cap$ info, but the fact that every team had API configs means they were reliant on it for some sort of ops ease
So sorry to caps fans but umm nhl fans vs. caps come July 5th
Edit: the nhl has gotta make cap$ accessible like they have recently with real time playing data. That's like half of hockeymen culture, armchair GMing with their shitty mock trade podcasts
