During the pre-pandemic era, the NHL was experiencing remarkable revenue and prosperity, with soaring numbers of fans streaming in to watch their games. However, the pandemic hit, causing a significant decline in their figures for over two years.
As a result, the NHL has had to maintain a flat salary cap for multiple years, resulting in chaos for general managers as they try to sign their stars and make trades. During this year's trade deadline, teams had to pay off other teams for draft picks to facilitate trades since most of them had reached their salary cap limit.
Elliotte Friedman, in a tweet, announced that following the GM's meetings in Florida, the salary cap would only rise by $1,000,000 next season. However, the commissioner has left the possibility of raising it higher open.
Chris Johnson also reported the same, but the NHL needs to wait and see what Marty Walsh, the incoming executive director of the NHLPA, wants to do.
Many believe that the salary cap needs to increase as teams struggle to retain their players due to high salaries, and some teams can't afford to re-sign their players. Currently, the NHL cap's upper limit is $82.5 million, with 16 teams over the salary cap but still compliant since they have acquired long-term injury reserve players from other teams to ease their burden.
