NHL salary cap to rise to between US$78 million and $82 million in 2018-19

NHL general managers should have the ability to reach deeper into their pockets next season.

The league says the projected salary cap for 2018-19 will be somewhere between US$78 million and $82 million, up from the current $75 million.

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman made the announcement Friday morning as the board of governors wrapped up two days of meetings in Florida.

He said revenues for this season are projected to be somewhere in the neighbourhood of $4.85 billion in native currency — combined U.S. and Canadian dollars — while hockey-related revenue will be around US$4.54 billion.

“HRR will actually be up about 8.2 per cent, so we’re having extraordinarily healthy growth in revenues,” said Bettman. “Using these numbers with no inflator versus these numbers with a five per cent inflator, which is the range, the cap would be between $78 million and $82 million.

“That’s something we’re going to have to discuss with the players’ association.”

The players and the league have to agree on the cap inflator, which would stand at $78 million under the current projections at zero per cent, and $82 million at five per cent.

The inflator for this season was set at 1.6 per cent.

“My preference is to keep the cap as low as possible because then the escrow is low,” said Bettman. “We’re projecting from our standpoint that the final escrow when it’s settled out and we disperse it will be a single-digit escrow from player salaries for last season.”

A percentage of player salaries is withheld in escrow to ensure a 50/50 split of hockey revenue with owners, per terms of the collective bargaining agreement.

The projected salary cap increase of at least $3 million would mark the biggest jump since it went from $64.3 million in 201314 to $69 million in 2014-15.

If the cap rises to $82 million, it be the largest increase in league history, topping the $6.4-million bump from 2007-08 to 2008-09.

The increase in cap space was welcome, but not unexpected, news for the board.

“The salary cap is going to go up every year,” said Montreal Canadiens owner Geoff Molson. “We’re a team that is a salary cap team.

“It wasn’t a surprise.”

The NHL brought in a salary cap after the 2004-05 lockout, which stood at $39 million in its first season.

The cap increased from $73 million in 2015-16 to $75 million to this season.

Bettman added the board of governors discussed business reports, the league’s centennial celebration, international efforts, next season’s schedule, esports endeavours, as well as player and puck tracking.

Scotiabank CEO Brian Porter also made a presentation that touched on some of the uncertainty surrounding the North American Free Trade Agreement, which U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to scrap.

“The relationship between Canada and the U.S. is extraordinarily important to both countries, not just the NHL, and we’ll have to deal with whatever may or may not happen,” said Bettman. “I know that in Canada, NAFTA is viewed as very important.”