NHL commissioner Gary Bettman provided an update on the league’s salary cap situation on Wednesday. According to TSN’s Pierre LeBrun, Bettman has told owners that “very preliminary revenue projections” suggest that the cap could rise to between $87 and $88 million for the 2024-25 season.
The news comes after the league has seen its cap rise just $1 million the past two campaigns, to $83.5 million, after staying stagnant at $81.5 million from 2019 through 2022. A maximum $4.5 million increase would match the biggest single-summer rise since the $4.5 million jump ahead of the 2019-20 season.
Gary Bettman after Board of Governors meeting says he told owners the very preliminary revenue projections suggests a salary cap bump to between $87 M and $88 M for 2024-25 next year
— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) October 4, 2023
Bettman and deputy commissioner Bill Daly revealed this past summer that league revenue was expected to reach $6 billion for 2022-23. Bettman added that this larger increase was expected to come as the players finish paying back the $1.1 billion escrow debt they amassed from the pandemic years.
By the end of the 2023 Stanley Cup Final, the players’ debt balance was expected to be down to $70 million. The constantly referenced “escrow” is basically a certain percentage of money that is held off the players’ paychecks and held until the NHL knows what their full revenue is for the year.
A $4.5 million jump will be important for many teams as they look to hold onto important upcoming free agents.
From a Washington Capitals perspective, Anthony Mantha, Nicolas Aube-Kubel, Joe Snively, Joel Edmundson, Max Pacioretty, and Chase Priskie are expected to reach unrestricted free agency after this season.
The Caps also will have an extensive list of restricted free agents that will need new deals. That list includes names like Aliaksei Protas, Rasmus Sandin, Connor McMichael, Ethen Frank, Riley Sutter, Alex Limoges, Matthew Phillips, Beck Malenstyn, Hardy Haman Aktell, Lucas Johansen, Mitchell Gibson, and Clay Stevenson.
Headline photo: Elizabeth Kong/RMNB
