NHL Salary Cap for 2025-26 Expected to Jump Far More Than Originally Anticipated

The NHL's salary cap has been a contentious talking point for several years, especially after it's stagnation after COVID-19 ravaged the league.

With the cap having barely moved for nearly 4 seasons, we finally saw some movement ahead of the 2024-25 season and we should be in store for another massive increase ahead of the 2025-26 season, according to popular NHL agent, Allan Walsh.

According to Walsh, he revealed on the Steve Dangle Podcast that the cap could increase to upwards of $97 million, which would be a record jump of $9 million from this season's $88 million cap hit.

Last year the projections had the salary cap for the 2025-26 season set at a projected $92 million, which would have still been an increase of $4 million. Considering the stagnation we had seen in previous seasons, that had many general managers making bolder moves.

From 2023-24 to 2024-25, the NHL's salary cap jumped from $83.5 million to $88 million and due to the sudden increase we saw a lot of big money contracts this summer. More than 100 players signed to deals worth over $1 billion dollars in just the first 12 hours of the free agency frenzy.

If Walsh is indeed correct, it makes you wonder how much crazier July 1st will be this year. The increase will assuredly help a lot of contending teams like the Toronto Maple Leafs who have Mitch Marner and John Tavares set to hit unrestricted free agency. With the estimated $9 million dollar jump, it could make it easier to keep both after all.

Other players set to hit unrestricted free agency include Mikko Rantanen, Jamie Benn, Aaron Ekblad, Brock Boeser, and Brad Marchand among so many others, which could make for an even more lucrative free agent frenzy.