A little more than one month into the 2024-2025 NHL season, there is good news regarding the league’s projected salary cap for the 2025-2026 season.
This year’s salary cap is $88 million. Early indications per the CBA are that next year’s salary cap will be approximately $92.5 million. However, Canadian sports journalist and Sportsnet reporter Elliotte Friedman reports that there will be discussions to raise it higher, teetering close to the $100 million mark.
Interesting: @FriedgeHNIC reporting on the broadcast tonight that next year’s salary cap could actually be pushed well over the 5% growth limit up to as much as $95M to $97M.
Right now per the CBA, it’s set to go to $92.4 million, but with revenues so high, it makes sense to…
— James Mirtle (@mirtle) November 17, 2024
Since the NHL salary cap was reintroduced in 2005, it has doubled. In 2005-2006 it was $39 million. Ten years ago for the 2014-2015 season, it was $69 million. The steady increase is indicative of hockey’s growing fanbase and interest.
What A Higher NHL Salary Cap Means
As with other sports, a higher salary cap benefits everyone involved. Teams can build a more solid roster consisting of younger players and veterans. Free agency can be more competitive as teams have more money to work with to attract veteran players.
#NHL salary cap could jump to nearly $100 million next year: report 👀 pic.twitter.com/p77ckJvBuM
— Hockey Patrol – Maple Leafs (@HockeyPatrol) November 17, 2024
On the flip side, it could also mean that players like Sidney Crosby, whose career when the salary cap was reintroduced in 2005, Alex Ovechkin, and Connor McDavid playing for one team for their entire career will become even rarer. Players could choose to move to teams who can offer them more money.
The NHL cap jumping to $97 million potentially (the upper-echelon of the range Friedman just reported) would be massive for the #Oilers
Both McDavid and Bouchard needing contracts
— Preston Hodgkinson (@NHLHodgkinson) November 17, 2024
How The NHL Salary Cap Compares To Other Sports
The NFL is the mammoth in this category with a 2024 salary cap of $255.4 million.
The NBA salary cap is $140.58 million.
The NHL has work to do to catch up, but things are trending in the right direction.
Of the major men’s sports leagues with a salary cap, the NHL, expectedly, has the lowest figure. But it is also growing at the slowest pace.
Growth since 2018:
🏈 NFL +44.1%
🏀 NBA +38%
🏒 NHL +10.7% pic.twitter.com/B09InfBamg— Colin Salao (@colincsalao) October 4, 2024
