NHL on track for $87.7 million salary cap in 2024-25
SEATTLE — The NHL apprised the Board of Governors on Monday that the salary cap is on track to increase to $87.7 million for the 2024-25 season, exactly “as prescribed in the Memorandum of Understanding signed between the NHL and NHL Players’ Association coming out of the pandemic in 2020.
That’s a welcomed five percent increase from the current $83.5 million, a number that has been essentially frozen for these last four seasons while the players have repaid a $1 billion debt to owners as a result of the pandemic.
In fact, $4.2 million is the minimum the salary cap will increase – as called for in the “lag formula” in the MOU. The two sides can negotiate an even higher number for next season – which NHLPA executive director Marty Walsh hinted at in a recent interview on Frankly Speaking.
“Next season, the salary cap is going up $5 million, and potentially more,” Walsh said. “Last year, when the salary cap was going up, I asked for more than $1 million. A million dollars wasn’t really enough. But I’m going to keep an eye on it. What I am going to do is make sure the players are getting their fair share.”
Walsh admitted that he asked for more than a $1 million increase, which was also as prescribed in the current agreement, though in return the NHL asked the NHLPA to raise the cap on escrow withholdings – currently capped at 6 percent. The NHLPA felt no reason to negotiate off of low number that players had been planning for, so the NHL held firm on what was in the agreement.
In other words, if the salary cap is going to increase beyond $87.7 million next season, the NHLPA will have to make a concession – something the league clearly isn’t planning on based on their report to owners and governors on Monday.
Board Bytes
On Tuesday’s Board agenda: The NHL is expected to discuss the 2024 Draft. The league has been focused on The Sphere in Las Vegas for a couple of months. It’s possible that the unique venue, with its own unique costs, will be rubber-stamped by the Board on Tuesday. The NHL would become the first professional sports league to host an event in the music-first theater … The Board heard a presentation on Artificial Intelligence on Monday from Shelly Palmer, a foremost voice in technology … The Board also received an update from Fanatics, who takes over from Adidas next season as the league’s official jersey partner.