After first suggesting the salary cap could increase by as much as $4 million next season, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman has backtracked on projectors and revealed this week that the league’s salary cap could rise by only $1 million next season. Early revenue projections were positive, but unless revenue outperforms the current projections the NHL now has, the cap is only going to rise incrementally. This news changes things for a lot of NHL franchises, some of whom were counting on a boost to help them out of their tricky salary cap situations.
The salary cap increased for the first time under the most recent CBA this past season, going up $1 million to $82.5 million. The first projections were that something similar might happen again. But, some positive signs early in the 2022-23 campaign led Bettman to throw out the idea that the cap could jump a lot sooner than originally expected. At the time, he said there was “a good probability” that the players’ escrow debt will be paid off this season. That would allow for a quicker increase. However, at the board of governors meeting in Palm Beach on Tuesday, Bettman said the players could still owe about $70 million at the end of the season.
He noted, “Based on current projections, there will still be an escrow at the end of the season. If that’s the case, we will move the cap up by $1 million. ” He added, “If we perform even better — and the budgeting projections that we have now are pretty robust — it’s conceivable the escrow will go away and the cap will go up to [over] $86 million.” In other words, he’s leaving the possibility of a bigger jump still open, but he’s making sure everyone is aware that it’s a lot less likely that teams see a big increase this season.
Factors that will go into this are the value of the Canadian dollar and which teams make deep runs in the playoffs.
Teams Are Frustrated By Lack Of Information
A $1 million jump puts a lot of teams in real trouble this off-season. Many are already working in LTIR and can’t afford to make any trades. Only a few clubs have the room to make deals before the NHL Trade Deadline and if clubs can’t take on players with contracts that run through the end of this season, they’ll be leary about adding to their payroll with no certainty they can afford those contracts next season.
This could make cap space even more valuable over the next couple of months as teams with the room will have all sorts of leverage in which to squeeze those franchises that are really in a bind.
One NHL GM said, “I just wish they would give us certainty. I’m totally hamstrung not knowing how to plan for the future. Would be great if they could give us even a sense of what it might look like the next three years.”
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