*Photo from the Los Angeles Times*
According to a Saturday announcement by the NHL and the NHLPA, the league's salary cap will raise to $88 million for the 2024-2025 season.
This past season, the salary cap was set at $83.5 million, a $1 million increase from 2022-2023. The $4.5 million jump is biggest jump in the salary cap in one offseason since the cap went up $4.5 million from 2017-2018 to 2018-2019. The cap had stayed flat at $81.5 million in 2020 and 2021 before going up $1 million each year the last two years.
Commissioner Gary Bettman said of the cap increase that "It's great to see. I know the general managers and the teams are excited to have more flexibility and it means that the revenues are as robust as we’ve been telling you all along."
When the NHL had a board of governors meeting in Seattle in December, Bettman previously projected the cap would be at $87.7 million for the coming season. With the cap raising to $88 million, the cap floor has also gone up to $65 million.
With a cap floor of $65 million, there are currently 11 teams under the floor ahead of free agency opening. The Utah hockey team, relocated from Arizona, has to add over $20 million in player salary before opening night to reach the cap floor.
Bettman said of the cap raising that "I predict that it will continue to go up. Obviously, with the number of years we had with flat or modest increases it was necessary to recapture how much was overpaid and how much the escrow built up during COVID, but I believe we’re going to continue to see robust growth in the cap."
With free agency set to open July 1, the top pending free agents include Steven Stamkos, Sam Reinhart, Elias Lindholm, and Jake Guentzel.
Comments
Post a Comment