The NHL salary cap has had stagnant growth for sometime now. From 2019-22, the cap remained flat at $81.5M, with it only increasing two million over the last two seasons to reach $83.5M.
In early December, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman confirmed the salary cap would grow to $87.7M for next season, an increase of $4.2M. The league made over $6.2 billion in revenue this season.
The Fourth Period's David Pagnotta confirmed that the salary cap is going to continue to increase to $92M for the 2025-26 season, an additional 5%,
The strategy for NHL players has shifted when it comes to free agency the last couple years. Players were opting for short-term contracts instead of locking into the security because of the stagnated cap. Now that we are finally seeing some steady increase, I suspect players will shift back to looking for the security of long-term contracts again.
The 2024 free agent class has some superstars with Steven Stamkos, fifty seven goal man Sam Reinhart, and Jake Guentzel topping the list. It is deep with other gems like Jonathan Marchessault, Elias Lindholm, Tyler Bertuzzi and Vladimir Tarasenko all looking for new deals on July 1st.
While the 2024 free agent class is solid, it is no comparison to the 2025 free agent class. There will be franchise changing players available if they hit the market. Mikko Rantanen, Leon Draisaitl and Mitch Marner top the list. The potential talent pool is extensive with Sidney Crosby, Brad Marchand, Aaron Ekblad, Brock Boeser, John Tavares and Victor Hedman all potentially available in the summer of 2025.
