Sportsnet: Elliotte Friedman on Saturday Headlines on the NHL salary cap going forward and how it could get an extra bump.
** NHLRumors.com transcription
Friedman: “So one of the stories that we’ve been following this week is, is the salary cap for next year. And at this time of year, the Players Association meets with all the players as part of its fall tour, and it’s taken that amount of importance, because there’s going to be a CBA negotiation next year.
And one of the things they’re talking about is the salary cap, which is supposed to be about 92 and a half for next year.
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Now, when this deal was done, we were in the middle of COVID. We had no idea what the world was going to look like, and there were very careful guardrails, put it on the salary cap, just in case things didn’t recover.
Well, fortunately for the NHL, revenues have been strong. They’ve been very good. They’ve outpaced the guardrails on that salary cap.
So basically, we have two paths to follow here. Number one is they keep the cap next year at around 92 and a half, and then there’s a huge jump the year after in 2026-27, or what the players say they’ve kind of been told about is the possibility that the cap moves higher next year, probably around the 95 to 97 area.
Now there’s no confirmation yet of which one is going to happen, but I’m hearing that it’s definitely going to be discussed, and there is some optimism that they can find a way to do it, but nothing will get done until it’s done. It’s definitely out there, and the players have definitely been told about the possibility.”
Maclean: “And (Paul Bissonnette) being a player wanted to know is this being 84 games later, going to 84.”
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Friedman: “I don’t know any of that stuff yet. I’m just like, one thing at a time, Biz, one thing at a time. I don’t, I don’t have your scatterbrain detention span.”
Maclean: “Yeah, he wants one versus eight and 84 games. if you want to know.”