With revenues trending ever upward in the NHL, the league is reportedly preparing its teams for a major salary-cap increase.
Hockey's salary cap will jump from $88 million to an estimated $95.5 million in 2026, $104 million in 2027, and $113.5 million in 2028, according to a Friday morning report from Elliotte Friedman of SportsNet.
The figures constitute unprecedented post-pandemic increases—as Josh Erickson of ProHockeyRumors wrote Friday, the cap will undergo "around a 9% jump per year on average, up significantly from the roughly 5% jump we’re used to in recent seasons outside of the (pandemic)-related cap freeze."
In fact, the jump from 2025 to 2026 is, per Erickson, the largest year-over-year monetary increase since 2009.
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 NHL's salary cap was introduced in the aftermath of the 2005 lockout, and was just $39 million in the 2006 season.
Since then, the figure has more than doubled even as the league has weathered continued labor issues and the COVID-19 pandemic.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as NHL Assures Teams of Huge Forthcoming Salary-Cap Leap Amid Revenue Growth.
