The NHL and NHLPA have released their salary cap estimates for the next three seasons, with the cap jumping to $95.5 million in 2025-26, $104 million in 2026-27 and $113.5 million in 2027-28. 



The salary cap for the 2024-25 season is $88 million, meaning next season’s estimate would be a $7.5 million increase.



Daily Faceoff hockey insider Frank Seravalli reported the news isn’t just a projection of what the cap could increase to, but an agreement between both the NHL and NHLPA. 


<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Interesting part of today's <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NHL?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NHL</a> / <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NHLPA?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NHLPA</a> memo to teams is that this isn't merely a projection of cap increases, but an agreement between the two parties.
2025-26 Upper Limit: $95.5m Lower Limit: $70.6m
2026-27 Upper: $104m Lower: $76.9m
2027-28 Upper: $113.5m Lower: $83.9m
— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) <a href="https://twitter.com/frank_seravalli/status/1885365978562715786?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 31, 2025</a></blockquote>
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The cap floor will also increase to $70.6 million next season, an increase of $5.6 million from this season’s lower limit of $65 million. The lower limit will be $76.9 million in 2026-27 and $83.9 million in 2027-28. 



This season’s $88 million salary cap was a $4.5-million increase of the 2023-24 salary cap, which was $83.5 million. This was the largest increase in the salary cap since between 2017-18 and 2018-19, when the league went from $75 million to $79.5 million, an increase of $4.5 million.



The salary cap has been stagnant for the previous five seasons due to the COVID-19 pandemic pausing games and limiting attendance upon return.



Between the 2019-20 and 2021-22 campaigns, the cap never increased beyond $81.5 million, and only rose by $1 million the last few seasons.<div class="injected-ad" data-nn-ad-tech-injection-count="1" data-nn-ad-tech-max-gap="130" data-nn-ad-tech-current-gap="133"></div>



This season, <a href="https://theleafsnation.com/">Toronto Maple Leafs’</a> forward Auston Matthews has the highest annual average value (AAV) with a cap hit of $13,250,000. Next season, <a href="https://oilersnation.com/">Edmonton Oilers’</a> forward Leon Draisaitl will surpass him, as his new contract will kick in, paying him an AAV of $14 million. 



Some notable pending unrestricted free agents (UFA) heading into the offseason include Maple Leafs’ forward Mitch Marner, <a href="https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/teams/carolina-hurricanes/line-combinations">Carolina Hurricanes’</a> forward Mikko Rantanen, <a href="https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/teams/florida-panthers/line-combinations">Florida Panthers’</a> defenseman Aaron Ekblad and <a href="https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/teams/washington-capitals/line-combinations">Washington Capitals’ </a>defenseman Jakob Chuchrun.