Categories
Dans les coulisses

Salary cap to rise to “just under $93 million” for 25-26 season

SUNRISE, FLORIDA - JUNE 08: Commissioner of the NHL Gary Bettman speaks to media during a press conference prior to Game One of the 2024 Stanley Cup Final between the Florida Panthers and the Edmonton Oilers at Amerant Bank Arena on June 08, 2024 in Sunrise, Florida. (Photo by Joel Auerbach/Getty Images)

In early June, we officially learned that the salary cap will rise from $83.5 million to $88 million for the 2024-2025 season.

That’s already quite an increase.

We’ve known that the NHL wanted to increase the ceiling for the various teams in recent years, but the losses generated by COVID-19 put a stop to all that. But now, obviously, things are looking up for league executives.

I say this because Elliotte Friedman revealed an important piece of information in a recent episode of his podcast.

What is it?

It’s simple, really: according to his information, the salary cap will increase to “just under $93 million” for the 25-26 season .

That changes things quite a bit:

(OBOXADSQ || []).push({“cmd”: “addBanner”});

An increase of nearly $10 million in two years is impressive.

It means the league is healthy…

But it also means that this summer, the agents of the players who will have to sign a new deal will be (very) aggressive on the market.

After all, guys are going to want to get more money, and that makes sense because teams will have more cash to spend next summer.

It’s also good news for the Habs, because Juraj Slafkovsky and Kaiden Guhle only have one season left on their contracts.

Obviously, both players will be eligible to sign a new deal that will give them a nice salary increase…

And the increased cap hit should certainly help Kent Hughes maneuver.

It also gives the GM more room to sign an important player on the free agent market next summer.

In fact, the timing seems perfect for the Habs, who appear to be on the verge of completing their rebuild.

The ceiling will rise considerably once the club is in a position to compete with the NHL’s top teams, and that’s going to make it all the more interesting.

And that’s where Nick Suzuki’s contract ($7.875 million), which expires at the end of the 29-30 season, could become a real bargain in all four corners of the league.

Overtime

– Jon Cooper to coach Canada at Four Nations Tournament.

– It’s party time in Florida.

– To be continued.

– Well…

– Cole working hard for next campaign.

– Nice!