"Doesn’t even cover inflation" "Say thanks Edmonton for bringing in extra revenue" - NHL fans react as league sets salary cap at $88M for next season

The National Hockey League has announced it will set this season's salary cap ceiling at $88 million. This marks the first substantial increase since before the pandemic.

"Next year's NHL salary cap ceiling has been set at $88M -- first big jump since before the pandemic," NHL insider Chris Johnston tweeted on X.

"About $300K more than was originally mentioned for the cap," Another insider, Elliotte Friedman, tweeted.

The official League's PR account also shared details through a tweet:

"The League announced today the Team Payroll Range for 2024-25: Lower Limit: $65.0 million, Midpoint: $76.5 million, Upper Limit: $88.0 million."

Fans reacted to the news. Some fans supported the increase while others expressed dissatisfaction.

"That doesn’t even cover inflation," One fan tweeted, reflecting concerns about the real-world implications of the cap increase.

"Everyone say thank you Edmonton for bringing in the extra revenue" another fan tweeted.

"Should lower the salary cap to increase parity in the league. The NHL is trying to turn into the NBA where teams can just buy championships. Disgraceful," a fan tweeted,

Here are some more fan reactions on X:

"Thank god it’s finally going up, next year it’ll go up even more," a fan said,

'300k is like pocket change for nba bench players lmao" a fan tweeted.

"So basically 1 star & 1 mid-tier player in the NBA for a whole team." a fan tweeted.

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NHL & Players' Association announce 2024-25 team payroll ranges

The League and Players' Association set the Team Payroll Range for 2024-25: $88MM upper limit, $76.5MM midpoint and $65.0MM lower limit. This upper limit increased by $4.5MM from last season, tying the highest single-season increase. It’s up $6.5MM from 2019-2020. The actual upper limit surpassed CapFriendly’s projection of $87.7MM. They project a $92MM cap for next season.

The minimum salary remains at $775K, up from $750K. The league, which incurred $1.5B in escrow debt due to the COVID-19 pause, has paid it off, as hinted by Commissioner Bettman. He indicated confidence in the league’s financial health at the pre-season Board of Governors meeting.

“The state of the League is very strong, The game is in great shape. Our franchises have never been better owned or stronger, and we’re excited to have the start of another season upon us,” Bettman said on October 5, 2023 (via NHL.com).

Utah joins the league next season, boasting the most cap space at $43.5MM, followed by the San Jose Sharks ($37.5MM) and Chicago Blackhawks ($34.1MM).