Salary Cap Increases to $88M for 2024-25 Season

Prior to puck drop of Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals, the NHL and the NHLPA announced the official Upper ($88M) and Lower ($65M) limits for the 2024-25 season. The Upper limit here is an increase of $300,000 from the previously projected salary cap ($87.7M) announced at the NHL Board of Governors meeting in Seattle last December. 

The @NHL and @NHLPA announced today the Team Payroll Range for 2024-25: https://t.co/rJW3afGi4q

Lower Limit: $65.0 million
Midpoint: $76.5 million
Upper Limit: $88.0 million pic.twitter.com/JYnAFEPY39

— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) June 8, 2024

While a $300,000 increase may seem insignificant when teams are spending millions, the increase will most certainly bring a sigh of relief to many front offices and players as the salary cap has remained quite stagnant since 2018-2019 when the cap increased six percent to $79.5M. The cap had increased an average 0.992% between 2019-2024. 

The salary cap is determined under the CBA by an assortment of means that equal out to what is termed Hockey Related Revenue. The fact that the Edmonton Oilers are in the Stanley Cup Finals undoubtedly helps add to this number handsomely going froward. Under the current CBA, the salary cap may increase up to five percent annually without further negotiations between the NHL and the NHLPA. The 2025-26 projected salary cap under this metric is thought to be $92.5M. 

I previously broke down the Nashville Predators’ salary situation as the team entered this summer, but the increase in the salary cap as well as offloading defenseman Ryan McDonagh‘s $6.75M AAV in a trade that sent the veteran back to the Tampa Bay Lightning will only further assist general manager Barry Trotz’s search for roster flexibility and improvement as the draft and free agency quickly approach. 

The Predators now have $26,345,801 in cap space to work with to fill the thought-to-be open eight roster spots (one goaltender, three defensemen, and four forwards) with six UFAs from last year’s roster yet to be signed. The Predators have a dead cap hit of $11,805,556 (Ryan Johansen and Mattias Ekholm retention plus Matt Duchene and Kyle Turris buyouts) for next season and a dead cap hit of $8,805,556 for the 2025-26 season (due to a slight increase in Duchene’s buyout and the subtraction of Johansen’s retention). 

While filling a roster to the required 23 most certainly takes priority, every penny counts for Trotz as he enters his sophomore season at the helm of Nashville’s front office.

Follow Clay Brewer on Twitter/X: @ClayBrewer10

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