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Teams Made Aware of Potential Salary Cap Increases, Plus Projections Through 2026

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Jon
September 27, 2022  (5:19 PM)
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Insider Elliotte Friedman comes through with another banger, reporting that NHL teams received guidance from the league today on possible changes to the salary cap. Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly recently appeared on the 32 Thoughts podcast and discussed possible changes:

"I've seen some preliminary estimates recently which would make me more optimistic on the cap going up sooner whether that's in two seasons or three seasons, I think it's more likely than not two seasons rather than three," Bill Daly said on the 32 Thoughts podcast this month.

According to Friedman, teams were notified that the salary cap will see minimal growth for the 2023-24 season, however in 2024-25 and 2025-26, the salary cap could reach $88 million for the former and 'approximately' $92 million for the latter.

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[Sportsnet]

Disclaimer: "Please understand these are projections and possibilities and an educated guess on where we could be going, not a guarantee of where things will be," Friedman writes.

If the cap can, indeed, reach $92 million by 2025 the implications would be massive for the league. Not only would players earn more take-home pay, but that means the league is also seeing serious financial growth, which is huge for the sport of hockey.

That sort of increase could explain certain teams' actions over the past year and any oddities we might witness over the next couple. Salary cap increases of this magnitude would provide a fruitful environment in which teams can either quickly rebuild a team or catapult themselves out of rebuild in one summer. Think what the Ottawa Senators did this summer times-ten.

This is fantastic news for the NHL, the game of hockey, and fans who want to spend less money on tickets and concessions, on the off-chance the league would be incentivized to lower those costs.