The NHL raises the salary cap. What does it mean?
The NHL has announced plans to raise the salary cap. Now it’s $82.5 million per club. But the league continues to recover from covid, returning to its former normalcy.
And now, according to multiple sources, NHL teams have been given instructions on how the salary cap will change in the coming years. This is still a project, and something may change – but the dynamic should be:
We asked an expert in NHL circles to comment on this trend on condition of anonymity:
“In the next few years a lot of clubs in the league just won’t have any free money. Everyone is being pushed to the salary cap. Therefore you’ve seen how many good and even great players who score a half -points per game haven’t received qualifying offers. They’re not even receiving trial contracts. So the cap needs to be raised.
Immediate trend – you will see short-term bridge contracts. Guys enter the free agent market at the age of 27-28. And they will now subscribe for two to four years – when the cap increases by 10%, their salary will also increase. That is, a person, as it were, puts himself: “In two years my level will not drop, then I will receive more money.”
How did the league manage to raise the cap? First, a new television contract. Second, the league began advertising on player jerseys and helmets. So the extra money is coming in and the league will continue to thrive.
And under the ceiling very soon no one will have money. Only three teams have more than $10 million in reserves: Anaheim ($16.6 million), Arizona ($18.6 million) and Buffalo ($20.5 million). But next summer, the Ducks will have to sign three monster contracts: with Trevor Zegras, Jamie Drysdale and Troy Terry.
There won’t be many players left with average salaries. There will either be superstars with big contracts, like Sergachev and Kucherov, or players with small contracts. Therefore, by the way, this is how they take players from Russia for a rookie contract. And the middle class will be squeezed out, because it doesn’t fit under the ceiling yet.
New Russians in Vancouver
Vasily Podkolzin played for the Canucks last season. And now two more attackers have been added. Ilya Mikheev, who played in Toronto, left the free agent market. And Andrey Kuzmenko arrived from SKA, in which they see the new Kirill Kaprizov.
True, in the very first test match, Ilya Mikheev injured his hand when a Calgary player used a PTO against him.
According to our information, Mikheev is not serious. The impact hit a nerve, so he backed away in pain. And it works very well in training. No operation required. In the next few days, he will be able to play again, although they will still carry out a second examination.
Vancouver missed the playoffs last season but had a strong second half when new coach Bruce Boudreau came on and led the league in points (if you take the second half). In the offseason, the composition was even stronger, and 17.5 thousand fans came to the first preseason game.
Kuzmenko is very happy, but he still has to adapt. Many videos of different episodes are being analyzed with him. It is important to move from the KHL to the NHL. His lead link with Mikheev and Elias Pettersson will likely be retained. Europeans are comfortable playing together.
What about Fedotov’s contract?
The question arises: why Philadelphia has not yet frozen the contract of Ivan Fedotov, who never came to training camp for the Flyers.
Response from our source: “Players don’t get paid during training camp. This gel would therefore be useless. When the season starts Oct. 7, Philadelphia can freeze it. But I strongly doubt that in the current situation, when a partial mobilization is underway and hundreds of thousands of citizens are drafted into the army, Fedotov will then move to CSKA or SKA. It would be a challenge for society. So apparently Ivan will serve a full year, if not longer. It doesn’t matter what Philadelphia does with its contract.”
Soshnikov already scores for the Islanders
If we talk about control games, it is worth noting the game between New Jersey and the Islanders (4-1). The Islanders account was opened by Nikita Soshnikov, who finished last season with Avangard and has now signed a small $0.75 million contract on Long Island. But the Devils’ first return puck was scored by Belarusian forward Yegor Sharangovich, and in the end, New Jersey won. Ilya Sorokin, who missed three goals on 12 shots, defended the Islanders’ gate for half the game.
Evgeni Malkin appeared in “Pittsburgh”, which lost heavily to “Detroit” (2:6). Gino himself didn’t take a block, but he didn’t score a point in 18:34 minutes on the ice.
Vitaly Kravtsov played for Rangers against Boston (2:3 OT) and also went without points, catching -2 for utility.
Kirill Kaprizov did not play for Minnesota, he was spared after a minor injury in the last game.
“St. Louis” defeated “Chicago” (4-1), and the fourth goal of the “musicians” was scored by Nikita Alexandrov when transferring Klim Kostin. And at the gates of St. Louis, Vadim Zherenko came out, who managed to fend off all 11 shots.
Source : MatchTV
I am Sandra Jackson, a journalist and content creator with extensive experience in the news industry. I have been working in the news media for over five years. During this time, I have worked as an author and editor at various outlets producing high-quality content that attracts readers from different demographics.
