Popular NHL salary cap website CapGeek.com ceased operation suddenly on Saturday, Jan. 3, citing personal health issues of the website’s founder and director Matthew Wuest.
This is the message currently posted on the homepage of the website:
Effective immediately, Jan. 3, 2015, CapGeek.com has permanently ceased operations. This sudden decision is made with a heavy heart and is due to the personal health of CapGeek.com founder and director Matthew Wuest. While this decision may raise many questions, it is requested that you respect Matthew’s privacy and wish for no media or purchase inquiries. Thank you for your co-operation and understanding at this difficult time.
An email address was initially listed in the message as a way to contact the website, with a statement that not all emails would necessarily be returned. That part of the message has since been removed from the website.
According to Puck Daddy, the website was founded in 2009 after Wuest compiled an NHL salary database and created a “cap calculator” for RedWingsCentral.com.
“It all started around the cap calculator feature,” Wuest told hockeyjournal.com in 2010. “I built the original calculator on a whim to help Red Wings fans calculate whether Marian Hossa could be re-signed at the end of 2008-09. When that launched, fans of other teams started emailing me begging me to build a calculator for their team, too. A month later, I launched CapGeek.com. Initially, it was only supposed to be a cap calculator, but I started adding layers and grew it to where it is today.”
While Wuest kept a tight lid on his resources who provided insight for the website and, CapGeek quickly emerged as the preeminent resource for NHL contract information, team salary cap figures, free agent statuses, and the ability to fact-check trade scenarios.
