The NHL and NHL Players Associate (NHLPA) have released their estimates for the salary cap for each of the next three seasons. The projected cap for the 2025-26 season is $95.5 million, 2026-27 to be $104 million, and 2027-28 to be $113.5 million.
New:
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) January 31, 2025
NHL/NHLPA have released cap estimates for next three seasons:
2025-26: $95.5M
2026-27: $104 M
2027-28: $113.5M
The salary cap remained stagnant at $81.5 million for three seasons during the COVID-19 pandemic, and went up $1 million in 2022-23 and 2023-24. For the 2024-25 season, the raise of $4.5 million is the highest jump since the beginning of the 2019-20 season.
The current salary cap is $88 million, and the largest percent of that for one player goes to Auston Matthews, who has a cap hit of $13.25 million, and takes up just over 15 percent of the salary cap for the Toronto Maple Leafs. When projecting contracts, players often look at percentage of the cap at the time of signing for comparisons, rather than the actual dollar amount. Based on these projections, by the time 2027-28 hits, the same percentage of the salary cap that Matthews has signed would be over $17 million.
“Both clubs and players have sought a certain level of predictability with respect to payroll ranges from year to year and over time for advance planning capabilities,…In reviewing our numbers with the Players’ Association as part of our collective bargaining, we finally felt like we were in a position to give them that. It’s not ‘absolute certainty,’ but maybe it’s the next best thing.”
Bill Daly via The Athletic (from NHL salary cap to jump from $88 million to $113.5 million over next 3 seasons, The Athletic, Jan. 31, 2025)
There have been rumors and reports that the salary cap would rise to this number, including from NHL player agent Allan Walsh.
The NHL has been breaking plenty of their own financial records, including their revenue, and franchise valuations, and now the salary cap continues to climb. The Ottawa Senators sold for $1 billion, and the sale of the Arizona Coyotes franchise was for between $1.2 billion and $1.3 billion.
Many teams will utilize this to bring in free agents, as well as work on keeping their current players. With a significant jump like this, it allows teams with their top players on long-term contracts to continue to add to their talents, and add some key pieces to the lineup.
