NHL Notebook: ‘Very preliminary’ projections suggest NHL salary cap could rise to $87-million-to-$88-million next season
By Zach Laing
9 months agoEarly projections from the National Hockey League suggest we could see significant increases to the league’s salary cap for the 2024-25 season.
As noted by Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli, league commissioner Gary Bettman said at the NHL’s Board of Governors meetings they had a “very preliminary” projection for next year’s salary cap to be between $87-to-$88-million.
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It would be a marked increase above the league’s $83.5-million upper limit that’s in place for this season. Projected for a roster size of 21 players, the Oilers have just $382,499, according to PuckPedia. Accounting for a salary cap of $87.5-million, the Oilers would have roughly $12.3-million in cap space this offseason, according to CapFriendly.
When this season expires, the Oilers will have a number of contracts to take care of. Hitting unrestricted free agency will be NHL forwards Warren Foegele, Mattias Janmark, and Connor Brown, while AHL’ers on expiring NHL deals include Seth Griffith, Brad Malone and Greg McKegg. On the blueline, Vincent Desharnais will be the lone UFA.
Edmonton will have some restricted free agents to deal with, too. Forward Dylan Holloway, Raphael Lavoie, Carter Savoie, and James Hamblin will need new deals, as will defencemen Markus Neimelainen, Phillip Broberg, Noel Hofenmeyer and Cam Dineen.
While Jack Campbell and Stuart Skinner remain under contract, all of Calvin Pickard (UFA), Ryan Fanti (RFA) and Oliver Rodrigue (RFA) will need new deals.
It’s worth noting that some of that future cap space — $3.225-million, to be exact — is already earmarked for Brown next season. While he signed a one-year contract with the Oilers for this season carrying a cap hit of $775,000, he has that $3.225-million in the form of a performance bonus for playing 10 games this season.
Zach Laing is the Nation Network’s news director and senior columnist. He can be followed on Twitter at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach@oilersnation.com.
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