Cost certainty was the key term 20 years ago when NHL commissioner Gary Bettman brought the NHLPA to its knees and imposed the league’s first salary cap.
Bettman cried poor. He claimed more than half the teams were losing money and the average salary topped $1.4 million.
A hard cap was set at $39 million after the NHL lost a full season to a lockout.
The cap, said Bettman, would provide cost certainty and allow small-market teams to compete and, as a bonus, the commish suggested that ticket prices might come down, which of course, they didn’t.
Cost certainty was in the news again last week when Bettman announced that the cap would increase significantly over the next three seasons. He said revealing the cap for the next three seasons will allow general managers to plan for the future.
The cap, which currently stands at US$88 million, will climb to US$95.5 million next season with further jumps to US$104 million and US$113.5 million in succeeding years. That’s a nearly 30 per cent increase over three years.
What does it mean?
For starters, Joe Fan will pick up part of the tab. Those increases are dependent on higher revenue across the league and that means a bump in ticket prices. Fans will also pay more to watch games on TV.
The NHL is looking to double its revenue from the Canadian TV rights and the increase will be passed on to subscribers. Rogers, whose national contract expires after next season, is in negotiations for a new deal and the cable provider offered a glimpse of the future when it partnered with Amazon for its Monday night package. A streaming service will be part of any new deal.
The new cap means that marquee players whose contracts expire in the next three years will cash in. Connor McDavid has one year left on his contract, which carries a cap hit of $12.5 million. Even if he takes a hometown discount, he’ll be probably be making at least $16 million-$17 million in his new deal.
He’ll eclipse teammate Leon Draisaitl, who signed an eight-year deal last year and will be stuck at $14 million, while Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon will be underpaid with a $12.5 million cap hit through 2031.
Speaking of underpaid, the rich will get richer but the minimum salary remains at $775,000 and the disparity between the top and the bottom should be on the agenda this month when the NHL and NHLPA begin negotiating a new collective bargaining agreement.
The Canadiens have locked up Nick Suzuki (2030), Cole Caufield (2031) and Juraj Slafkovsky (2033) for the foreseeable future with what look like very reasonable contracts and the cap increase will give GM Kent Hughes an opportunity to go shopping. It will be interesting to see what Lane Hutson commands in a long-term deal, which could be in play when he becomes a restricted free agent after next season.
The Canadiens and other big-market teams like the Maple Leafs and the Rangers welcome the cap increase, but there are some teams that may not be as happy.
The Winnipeg Jets have always been a cap team, but they may not be able to keep up because they have problems filling the smallest arena in the NHL, the 15,225-seat Canada Life Centre. The relocated Utah Hockey Club plays in the 16,000-seat Delta Centre, but many of those seats offer obstructed views and the team is averaging a little more than 11,000 fans a game.
Other teams that may struggle with an increased payroll are Ottawa, which is the least profitable team in the NHL, and Buffalo, San Jose and Columbus, which need winning squads to boost attendance.
Looking ahead: The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler has been taking deep dives into each NHL team’s prospect pool and he ranks the Canadiens at No. 3.
It’s no surprise that Ivan Demidov tops the list. He has set a KHL U20 scoring record despite playing limited minutes for SKA St. Petersburg and he’ll be in the Canadiens’ top six next season.
Next on Wheeler’s list are Boston College goaltender Jacob Fowler and defenceman David Reinbacher.
Fowler is a great college goalie, but I’ve cautioned in the past that it’s premature to speculate on his future until he plays at the pro level.
We also need to see more of Reinbacher. His development was stalled when he suffered a knee injury in an exhibition game and required surgery. He has resumed skating with a non-contact jersey at Canadiens practices and could play some NHL games before the season ends. He could also make up for lost time by helping the Laval Rocket in their AHL playoff run.
Oh Canada: For the first time in a dozen years, Canada is not among the 16 nations competing in the final stages of the Davis Cup tennis competition.
Canada, which won the Cup in 2022, lost 3-2 to Hungary in a qualifying match held on the weekend at IGA Stadium. After losing the two opening singles Saturday, Canada rallied on Sunday. Veteran Vasek Pospisil, who was playing his last Davis Cup match, teamed with Liam Draxl to win the doubles and Montrealer Gabriel Diallo evened the series with a 6-1, 6-3 win over Fabian Marozsán. In the deciding match, Laval’s Alexis Galarneau put up a spirited fight before losing to Marton Fucsovics. 7-6(8), 6-4.
The result would have been different if Canada had its best players, but Félix Auger-Aliassime and Denis Shapovalov both bailed on the team. Auger-Aliassime was in France, where he won the Open Occitanie for his second ATP Tour win this year. Shapovalov begged off because of an injury but recovered in time to play in the Dallas Open this week.