For The First Time In Like A Decade, The NHL Is Forecasting A SHARP INCREASE In The Salary Cap Over The Next 3 Years

The NHL salary cap rose for the first time in three seasons this year, setting at $82.5 million for 2022-23. As the league continues to recover from the revenue challenges presented by COVID and returns to normalcy, that upper limit should begin to rise considerably more in the coming years. 

A stunning headline to read. The NHL has been in a stagflation for YEARS. Basically the NHL Salary Cap has barely moved since Toews and Kane signed record breaking contracts in 2014. Reading that the salary cap is actually going to be on it's way back to normalcy after the Canadian dollar plummeted with the price of oil like 8 years ago and then covid killed any hope of the Cap going up in a real way over the last three seasons. I see a $92M cap and I think to myself? Wow...that is a whole Artemi Panarin salary difference. It's a Danault and Teravainen. It's an alternate history. 

An interesting headline when all we hear about in the world is energy crisis, inflation, and just general economic despair. The NHL is apparently impervious to that because of that sweet sweet ESPN TV money. That bump will coincide with when Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, Connor McDavid, Mikko Rantaanen, and a group of young stars will be looking to cash in. All of a sudden those deals signed by MacKinnon and Makar will look like bargains after those guys cash in. 

I hope that Davidson uses these next couple of years of cap hell and standings hell to take on bad contracts that expire in 2025. Then take those extra assets and dollars and use them to have a spending spree on RFAs to supplement a talented core in 2025 when the team is ready to compete again. That is the dream. 

I am sure that Putin and WWIII will kill that dream, but for now it's nice to fantasize about.