29 NHL teams are preparing for an escalating salary cap this summer and beyond. In Ottawa, the thought process is a bit different. There's a belief that, at some point in the foreseeable future, the salary cap is going to come crashing down. In this theory, teams will need to dust off $5MM-$10MM in salary to satisfy the hard cap requirements.

Today's report from Chris Botta at the Sports Business Journal had some good news for the big spenders, and maybe not such good news for teams who were hoping to skate along on the lower end of team salaries:

Source: NHL natl revenue approx. $3.7 billion this season. With new CAN TV deal, will be well over $4B next season. More in SBJ.

— Chris Botta (@ChrisBottaNHL) June 9, 2014

As James Mirtle astutely noted, the numbers lead to a projection something in the range of $70MM (or north) for next year, and $76MM for the 2015-2016 season.

NHL's cap could well rise $6-million+ both this summer and next, hitting $76-million by 2015-16. Floor would be about $20-mil less.

— James Mirtle (@mirtle) June 9, 2014

Television deals are playing a big role here, and though there is more money to go around, teams are going to have to kick a nice portion of it back in the terms of player salaries. This is largely what the last lockout was all about.

The cap floor is still a fixed percentage, so although there are still going to be spending disparities, these teams in the middle or at the bottom may have to spend a bit more than they anticipated heading into this season.

Bruce Garrioch at the Ottawa Sun reported that the team's internal salary cap ceiling would be $56MM for this season. That number, if the $76MM projection is good twelve months from now, would be the cap floor in 2015-2016.

Overall, great news for the league and the players, though. Business is great, and very likely will be ... right up until the opt-out clause of the current CBA is triggered near expiry. Then, you'll hear how much the league is struggling, how badly player salaries are lagging as a percentage of franchise spending costs, and how the overall business model is unsustainable.

It's kind of funny listening to Gary Bettman right now, who will tell anyone in a thirty-mile radius about how well the league is doing financially. (He's not wrong, but this tune will change when necessary.) The NHL lockout cycle is truly a perfect circle.

Join the Discussion: » 39 Comments » Post New Comment

» Wrapping Things Up

» Enforcer

» Random Thoughts

» Shot Coordinate Fun

» Any Room?