The NHL and the NHL Players' Association announced on Friday an agreement that will provide increased predictability on core NHL Salary Cap economics for a minimum of the next three years (through 2027-28).
The agreement sets the following annual increases to the Upper Limit, subject to the Collective Bargaining Agreement being in effect beyond the 2025-26 season: $7.5 million in 2025-26; $8.5 million in the 2026-27 season and $9.5 million in the 2027-28 season.
The NHL and NHLPA also announced that team payroll ranges for the next three seasons would be an Upper Limit of $95.5 million and a Lower Limit of $70.6 million next season; an Upper Limit of $104 million and a Lower Limit of $76.9 million in 2026-27 and an Upper Limit of $113.5 million in 2027-28 with a Lower Limit of $83.9 million.
The projected Team Payroll Ranges for the 2026-27 and 2027-28 seasons will be subject to potential minor adjustments (up or down).
In December, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said the salary cap for the 2025-26 season was projected to be $92.4 million, a $4 million jump from this season's cap of $88 million. But speaking at the NHL Board of Governors meeting in Florida, Bettman said then that there was a potential of the cap going even higher pending a possible negotiation between the NHL and NHLPA.
"The cap under the current guidelines in the Collective Bargaining Agreement would go up 5 percent," Bettman said on Dec. 10. "As we look at revenues, we're going to have discussions with the Players' Association about escrow levels and whether or not the cap can or should be tweaked a little more on an ongoing basis, but that's something that we have to really work out with the Players' Association and we're having those discussions."
The NHL and NHLPA said Friday they still intend to meet to discuss other elements of the Collective Bargaining Agreement that might need modification and/or improvement beyond the 2025-26 season.
Bettman said in December he hopes to have a new CBA agreement finalized sometime this year, potentially before the Stanley Cup Final begins in June.
"I don't want to prognosticate on collective bargaining," Bettman said. "We have a very open, constructive relationship with the Players' Association right now. I find working with (NHLPA executive director) Marty Walsh and (assistant executive director) Ron Hainsey, as does Bill (Daly, NHL Deputy Commissioner), very constructive, very professional, very cordial. So we're not going to get ahead of ourselves and prognosticate as to what's going to happen, although we hope to do this as quickly and as seamlessly as possible."
The news of the salary cap adjustments comes less than two weeks before the start of the 4 Nations Face-Off, a best-on-best international tournament that involves NHL players from Canada, Finland, Sweden and the United States.
NHL players will also return to the Winter Olympics next February at the 2026 Milano Cortina Games.
