According to
Bob McKenzie it appears that the NHL salary cap will have an upper limit of
$64 million and floor of $48 million. Various numbers have been speculated about over the past few months in terms of where the cap would be for next season, but this is the highest of any of those that have come out so far. If
those numbers are what actually where the cap is for the 2011-12 season, then
many teams will be gaining a huge amount of relief with the $4.6 million
increase in the cap. Combine that with
the 10% allowance for overage in the summer and a team could have as much as
$70.4 million in salary on the books before making moves to get under the
ceiling.
This news is welcomed for
places like Philadelphia, Calgary, Pittsburgh, Chicago, San Jose, Boston, New
Jersey and even the New York Rangers.
When you are willing to spend or have bad contracts that hamper your cap
situation, increases like these are huge for the organization in attempting to
compete for a championship.
For other organizations this new might not be so welcomed. Just as interesting as the teams that were right against the
cap getting some breathing room for next season, is the amount of money that
some teams who are well under the salary cap floor will have to spend to make
it. As helpful as this is to those who want to spend and compete, for those who don't want to or cannot afford to spend this is not what they want to hear. If a team is already losing money the increase in the required amount they have to
spend will only enhance those issues.
