When you're a good team in the NHL over an extended period of time it is inevitable that the salary cap is going to become an i sue.The are still experiencing that this offseason (again), whiles teams like Pittsburgh, Boston, Minnesota, Philadelphia, Vancouver and San Jose have all been through it as well in recent seasons (and still are). It's soon going to happen to the as they work to extend the contracts of and .Those teams have great players that are the foundation of their succe s, and great players cost a ton of money and take up a significant portion of a team's payroll. That means other players throughout the lineup are going to have to be moved or let go, which starts to take a toll on a team's depth.That's what makes teams like the so fascinating at this point.They have been in the playoffs in four of the past five seasons, and over the past three years they haven't finished lower than in the league standings and were just one game away from reaching the Stanley Cup Final this past season. They also have two players on the roster, the All-Star duo of and , that each make more than $8 million per year. Between the two of them, they combine to take up nearly a quarter of the $71.4 million cap this upcoming season for the Ducks. Not only do the Ducks not have to worry about the salary cap right now, they didn't get over the salary until just a few days ago, and even now they are still only $200,000 over the league's $52.8 minimum Cal O'reilly Jersey . They already have players under contract for the upcoming season. That is remarkable for a team that good, with that many top-line players, to be in that type of position with the cap.They still have two significant restricted free agents to sign this summer, Jakub Silfverberg and the recently acquired , but even if those two combine to add $7 or $8 million to the team's cap that will still leave them more than $10 million under the upper level limit.So how have they done it?The first key area is that the Ducks are spending next to nothing on goaltending. and combine to count just $3.3 million against the cap, a number that is le s than 26 goalies acro s the league. The only team that is going to commit le s to the position this season is going to be the . They also have prized prospect on an entry level deal for one more year. Goaltending is an area that can get teams in trouble if they commit to the wrong person long-term, especially during a time when there are so many good goaltenders floating around the league that it's not always nece sary to pay top dollar to get quality play. Along with the low cost of their goaltenders, the Ducks have also done a great job bringing young players through their system and getting contributions from them on entry level deals. This year's team still has (31 points in his age 21 season), (a 21-minute per night defenseman) and Jiri Sekac playing this upcoming season on their entry level deals.Not one defenseman on the roster counts more than $5 million against the cap. They might come to regret the contract extension ($4.6 million over the next three years) before his deal is complete, but they have Lindholm, Simon Despres and all playing this season for le s than $1.25 million (individually) against the cap. All of them are restricted free agents after this season, so raises will be coming in the very near future, but for now you will be hard pre sed to find a team that will get more bang for their buck from a trio of defensemen this upcoming season.But the Ducks aren't the only contending team that's put themselves in a good situation with the cap. Keep in mind that we're not just looking for teams that have a lot of salary cap space this offseason. We'r elooking for teams that are expected to be contenders, have most of their rosters filled out, and are still well under the league's cap both for this season and even into future seasons. : The Capitals should be one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference this season, and like the Ducks they have two All-Star players ( and ) making a ton of money at the top of their roster. And they have still been able to construct their team in a manner that leaves them with a pretty sizable chunk of cap space. As of Thursday the Capitals are $10.8 million under the cap for this upcoming season with 20 players under contract. They owe a lot of that to a pretty impre sive collection of young players that are going to play some key roles this season, including , , , and , as well as some smart long-term investments.Even though the team may have overpaid and Matt Niskanen a bit in free agency last summer, they're getting tremendous value from and (combined cap hit: $6.7 million for the next two years).But the thing that is most encouraging for the Capitals and their situation: The only key players that are due for a significant raise over the next two seasons are Johan son and starting goaltender , both currently unsigned as restricted free agents. The rest of the core is completely locked in for next few years, leaving the team with the nece sary room to make moves like they did this offseason to bring in and . They're already good. They're young. And they have room to add on. :At this point no team in the NHL -- not even Arizona -- has committed le s salary cap space for the 2015-16 season than the Nashville Predators. They are still $2 million under the salary floor and already have 20 players signed for this season. They will have no trouble reaching the floor, as the re-signings of restricted free agents and will easily get them there. Starting goaltender and defenseman are the big-money players on this roster, and at a combined cap hit of $14.8 million, they are not cheap.Fortunately for the Predators Rinne is probably one of the few big-money goalies in the NHL that has proven to be a wise investment (he is a game-changer for them, and his return to health this season was a huge part of their return to the playoffs) while Weber is one of the more productive defensemen in the league. Where the Predators come out ahead, though, is the long-term contracts they gave to (who is quickly starting to challenge Weber for the title of best defenseman on the team) and , both of whom are signed through the end of the 2018-19 season at a combined cap hit of only $6.5 million (Josi is signed on his own for one more year beyond that). The common denominator with these teams is that they have all been able to acquire and develop young players that are able to play significant roles while they are still in their cheapest years, and they have all made some smart long-term investments with a lot of those same young players that have been turned out to be bargains against the cap (Josi, Ellis, Carlson, Fowler). Jack Quinn Jersey