NHL's salary cap could be headed into uncharted territory
The NHL salary cap could see a massive increase over the next few years.
According to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, the league’s first projection for the 2028-29 salary cap has it reaching as high as $127.5 million USD.
That would be a huge jump from where the salary cap sits today.
The cap is set at $104 million for the 2026-27 season before increasing to $113.5 million in 2027-28. If the latest projection ends up being accurate, teams would have another $14 million in spending room the following season. It would also be the biggest single-season increase in NHL salary cap history.
The NHL’s continued revenue growth is a major reason for the expected jump. Commissioner Gary Bettman has projected the league will generate roughly $8.1 billion in revenue during the upcoming season, putting the NHL in a strong financial position.
For players, a rapidly rising salary cap could mean some very large paydays.
We’ve already seen the market take off this offseason, with several of the NHL’s biggest stars signing contracts worth more than $10 million annually. If the cap continues climbing at this rate, that number could become far less unusual around the league.
It could also change the way teams look at some of the massive contracts already on the books.
A deal that takes up a significant portion of a team’s cap space today could represent a much smaller percentage of the ceiling a few years from now. That could make long-term contracts easier to manage as the league’s financial picture changes.
Of course, the $127.5 million figure is only a projection at this point, and there is still plenty of time for it to change. But if the NHL’s revenues continue to grow as expected, teams could soon have significantly more room to spend.
That could make for a very different salary landscape around the league by the end of the decade.
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