There will be a meeting of the Board of Governors next week at which time there will be another update about the projected salary cap for next season. The most recent estimates were that if the escrow debt was repaid, the Upper Limit could jump to $86MM, an increase of $3.5MM from where it is now. Meanwhile, if the debt wasn’t repaid, the increase would once again be limited to $1MM.
However, there could be a third option. As Pierre LeBrun and Darren Dreger detailed in TSN’s latest Insider Trading segment, the NHLPA is polling its membership about their possible interest in smoothing out the cap increases over the next couple of years without affecting escrow. That would likely result in a greater jump than $1MM next season which would allow for a bit more flexibility with so many teams capped out. On the flip side, the anticipated jump once the escrow debt is paid off wouldn’t be as dramatic. At this point, this is strictly a hypothetical scenario and it has not been discussed with the league just yet.
Elsewhere around the hockey world:
- While it’s still unknown who the next owner of the Senators will be, expect actor Ryan Reynolds to be a part of the ownership group. Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch reports that the league is making it clear to all prospective owners that they want Reynolds to be a minority partner in the purchase for whoever winds up buying the team. Reynolds was initially planning to align with one bid but has been instructed by the league to hold off on doing so.
- The IIHF has announced its 2023 Hall of Fame honorees, a list that includes three former NHL players in winger Henrik Zetterberg, defenseman Brian Leetch, and goaltender Cristobal Huet. Zetterberg, the long-time Red Wing, is the 21st member of the IIHF ‘Triple Gold’ club while Leetch suited up in 76 games internationally, including three appearances at the Olympics. As for Huet, he played in 13 World Championships for France along with two Olympics. Jimmy Foster and Caroline Ouellette were the others that will be entering the Hall in the player category.