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Gary Bettman Angrily Shuts Down Report From Elliotte Friedman About Changes to the NHL Salary Cap

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TJ Tucker
November 20, 2024  (3:12 PM)
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NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman has completely rejected a report from Sportsnet insider Elliotte Friedman about a possible unexpected bump to the league's salary cap.

It's not often the Commissioner of the NHL directly addresses a report from a hockey insider, but Gary Bettman is firing back after a report on the salary cap from Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman.

On a recent edition of Saturday Headlines, Elliotte Friedman stated that the NHL could see a big salary cap jump next season due to better-than-expected revenues.

"Unless something really goes off the rails, I think we're going to see a $95 to $97 (million) cap this year, as long as the CBA gets done as part of it."

That would be a considerable increase over the expected jump in the cap to $92.5 million next year, and would likely make a lot of players and GMs happy. However, Gary Bettman told the Athletic it hasn't even been discussed and the report from Friedman is flat out wrong.

"I don't know where that came from. The numbers that were being thrown around were not accurate, and any change would require an agreement between us, the league, and the Players Association in terms of how it's computed. We haven't had those discussions. So somebody, I think, floated something on a slow news day."

Gary Bettman, whose continued denial of the possible fatal effects of CTE was recently addressed by the NHLPA, added it's way too early in the 2024-25 NHL season for a jump in the cap to even be considered.

"It's really too early for that to be a story"

That is the complete opposite of what Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman said, who insisted NHL brass have indeed been discussing a better jump in the cap for next season than the one already put in place. Friedman has not yet responded to Bettman's rebuke.

As far as NHL insiders go, Elliotte Friedman is arguably one of the best in the business right now. However, if Bettman is being honest, Friedman was either given bad information or misinterpreted just how much of a priority this might be for the league.

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Gary Bettman Angrily Shuts Down Report From Elliotte Friedman About Changes to the NHL Salary Cap

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