Next Season’s NHL Salary Cap Should Increase $4 Million

NHL general managers have been grousing for three seasons that it is challenging to make trades or sign free agents because too many teams have salary cap issues.

That is expected to change next season.

Commissioner Gary Bettman will tell the league’s Board of Governors today at their annual meetings in Florida that the league’s salary cap could rise by at least $4 million for next season.

That is welcome news for a league that has 15 teams using Long-Term Injured Reserve (LTIR) players to stay salary cap compliant. Seven other franchises are within $1 million of the salary cap ceiling.

According to Cap Friendly.com, four of those teams (Boston Bruins, Pittsburgh Penguins, Los Angeles Kings and Seattle Kraken) have less than $200,000 in cap space remaining.

The salary cap messiness is COVID related. The league’s cap has essentially remained flat while it rebuilt its revenue. This season, the salary cap is $82.5 million. That’s only $1 million more than it was three seasons ago when COVID caused NHL revenue to plummet.

The $4 million salary cap is based on a projection that league revenues this season could top $6 billion. That would be up from $5.3 billion last season.

NHL.com reports that the $4 million increase is dependent upon the players repaying an escrow debt they owe the league from 2019-20.

If the players don’t repay the debt by the end of the season, the salary cap increase about $1 million. But then the NHL would have a significant salary cap bump in 2024-25.

TRIVIA: Name the four players who led the NHL with 11 game-winning goals last season ('21-'22).

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TRIVIA ANSWER:

Leon Draisaitl, Chris Kreider, Jason Robertson, and Steven Stamkos.