Elliotte Friedman revealed the first projected salary cap provided by the NHL Board of Governors, and it's an insane leap of over $20 million over the next two years.
The NHL Board of Governors held a meeting recently to discuss the future of the NHL's salary cap and where the league is headed considering year after year the league finds itself with record-breaking revenue numbers, and a steadily increasing profit margin - with a potential expansion helping out considerably as well.
But the main focus was the salary cap and where that's projected to go. Everyone knows it's going to be a lot higher in the coming years, but just how much are we going to see it leap? Estimates have the 2027-28 cap reaching roughly $113.5 million, but it's 2028-29 that things become absurd.
NHL salary cap expected to rise over $20 million in only two years
Elliotte Friedman revealed that the Board of Governors announced their first projected estimate for the 2028-29 salary cap, and the amount is staggering - $127.5 million.
The NHL gave its first estimate for the 2028-29 salary cap at this week's Board of Governors meeting, and according to multiple sources, it's a whopper - $127.5 million. (All figures in U.S. dollars.)
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said revenue projections for this coming season are approximately $8.1 billion in mixed currency, obviously a key factor in the rising total. If the 2028-29 guesstimate holds, it would also be the largest season-to-season jump of the cap era, at $14 million.
That would be a $23.5 million jump from the current cap which is projected to be roughly $104 million, and a $14 million leap from just one season is quite frankly, a bit absurd.
That's unbelievably great news for players though, as they luck out and get the chance to earn some serious money going forward. We've already seen what teams are willing to do with the cap space they have now, imagine the contracts in a couple of seasons?
Expect $15-20 million dollar contracts as the norm going forward
Taking a look around the league, we're seeing big-time deals being signed. Cale Makar is a $20 million player, Leo Carlsson signed an $18 million per year deal, Adam Fantilli just got nearly $14 million, and even smaller names like Ryan Leonard were able to cash in.
But with a steadily rising cap, that means those types of deals aren't going to come as much of a shock to anyone, and you're going to see young players locked up under heavily lucrative deals. There is one person though to keep an eye on knowing how expensive things will get - Connor McDavid.
If the cap is going to be headed towards nearly $130 million, then we very well could see teams putting insane bids in for McDavid if he hits free agency in 2027-28. Already projected to earn over 20 million dollars, what's stopping a team from paying him $30 million? $40 million? If the cap keeps going up, then so too are the contracts.
This is the world we live in now, where expensive contracts have become the standard, and anything that's under $10 million per season seems like an absolute bargain compared to what future deals will look like.
Players are going to benefit, the NHL is going to earn insane revenue, and it's only going to get wilder as each year passes by.
Is the NHL salary cap rising too quickly?
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