The NHL and its union announced a significant increase to its salary cap over the next three years, projecting a jump from $88 million this season to $113.5 million for the 2027-28 season.
The NHL cap has barely budged in the last six years, since it was set at $79.5 million for the 2018-19 season. The following year was interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, when ticket sales were hit hard due to arena capacity restrictions. The economics of the NHL were particularly impacted because hockey relies on its ticket revenue more than the other three biggest North American sport leagues. Canada, where seven NHL teams play, was also much slower than the U.S. to get back to full capacities at arenas.
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The NHL’s salary cap is determined by league revenue, and the CBA requires owners and players to evenly split hockey-related revenue (HRR). But the revenue shortfall during the pandemic triggered a $1.5 billion player “debt.” The debt was finally extinguished last season, leading to a $4.5 million bump to the cap this year after increasing a total of only $2 million during the prior four seasons.
The NHL’s HRR was $6.3 billion—up 8% last season—and is projected to top $7 billion this year. The surging revenue helped wipe out the debt faster than most teams and agents anticipated.
The cap is projected to rise $7.5 million next season to $95.5 million—the team salary floor is $70.6 million—and then $104 million for the 2026-27 season. The NHL memo said that payroll ranges for the 2026-27 and 2027-28 seasons will be subject to potential minor adjustments up or down, and that the league and union will discuss other elements of the CBA that might need “modification and/or improvement” beyond the 2025-26 season.
“Both clubs and players have sought a certain level of predictability with respect to payroll ranges from year to year and over time for advance planning capabilities,” NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly told TSN’s Pierre LeBrun. “In reviewing our numbers with the Players’ Association as part of our collective bargaining, we finally felt like we were in a position to give them that.
Teams have been hamstrung by the artificially low cap in recent seasons as they tried to build rosters. The newly increased cap gives teams more clarity ahead of the March 7 trade deadline and will help teams potentially hold on to their stars. Mitch Marner’s deal with the Toronto Maple Leafs expires after this season, and reigning Stanley Cup Players MVP Connor McDavid’s contract with the Edmonton Oilers the following year. The math would have been tricky for the Oilers after they gave McDavid’s teammate, Leon Draisaitl, an eight-year, $112 million contract extension in September.
The move arrives as the NHL and its union are set to negotiate a new CBA, with the current deal set to expire in September 2026. The NHL had four work stoppages between 1992 and 2013, but relations between the league and players union have rarely been better. The three-year projection is an indicator of an improved relationship, as the league and union typically only release salary cap figures one season at a time. Commissioner Gary Bettman has said he’d like to announce a CBA extension by the Stanley Cup Finals in June.
In October, Sportico valued the average NHL franchise at $1.79 billion, up 37% from 2023. The jump follows a 29% gain the prior year and a 92% increase since 2021, when the average team was worth $934 million.
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