While meeting with the media after the first day of the Board of Governors meeting, Gary Bettman said the NHL salary cap ceiling will be roughly $83 million in 2019-20.
The NHL salary cap has been consistently rising for a while now. This season, it rose to $79.5 million. That’s a good sign the league is seeing financial growth, as that’s something the league has struggled with in the past.
Next season should be no different, as NHL commissioner Gary Bettman has announced the league is projecting the NHL salary cap to rise to $83 million for the 2019-20 season.
The NHL is projecting a salary cap of roughly $83-million for next season, per Gary Bettman.
— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) December 3, 2018
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Though it’s a rough estimate and nothing is set in stone, this is good news for the teams. That gives them more money to spend on upgrading their teams and likely helps a few teams keep some of their players they might have not been able to fit under the cap.
For the players, this is a good sign as well. Though there is a lockout looming and that could change the way contracts are structured, for now, there’s more money to be spent on players. Well, at least those who will need new contracts.
However, it will be interesting to see the strategy teams employ with a lockout looming. This could lead to more short-term deals or more deals with bonus money during the lockout season (which could be as soon as the 2019-20 season but likely won’t be until the 2020-21 season).
Of course, the NHLPA and the league could always work something out before a lockout is necessary. But history suggests this will not be the case, as there have been four lockouts or strikes since 1990.
Teams will have to weigh how to use this money, especially since all signs are pointing to a lockout starting in 2020. Likewise, players are going to have to weigh their options there. There have already been players structuring their deals so they get guaranteed money no matter what for the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons. We’ll likely see even more of them in the next few months.