SEATTLE- The NHL expects the salary cap to rise to $87.7 million next season, Commissioner Gary Bettman said after the Board of Governors concluded meetings on Tuesday.
The salary cap this season is $83.5 million, an increase of $1 million compared to 2022-23. It was $81.5 million from 2019 to 2021 due to the financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The cap, which is expected to increase by $4.2 million, has not increased by more than $4 million season-to-season since increasing by $4 million from $75 million in the 2017-18 season. $5 million increased to $79.5 million in the 2018-19 season.
Bettman also said the revenue forecast for this season is $6.2 billion.
“I think most people will see it as good news,” Bettman said of the salary cap increase.
Bettman also provided an update on where the Arizona Coyotes are in their search for a site to build a new arena in the East Valley of the Greater Phoenix area. He said the Coyotes have identified a site and hope to finalize it in the coming weeks or months.
“They understand that it’s important to get it done on time so we can make the schedule for next season,” Bettman said.
The Coyotes are scheduled to play next season at Mullett Arena, the 5,000-seat facility on the campus of Arizona State University that has been their home since the start of last season.
“It’s the only place in Arizona where they can actually play,” Bettman said.
But a Coyotes move could become a possibility if they don’t submit NHL corporate plans to build a new arena sometime this season so that schedules can be finalized in a reasonable time frame for next season.
“I think at the end of the day we need some predictability about where this is all going, and Arizona is pretty confident they can get there in the next few months, the next few weeks,” Commissioner Bettman said.
The NHL also informed the Board of Governors about cut-resistant materials for the neck, wrists and ankles.
Usage and demand for the materials has increased in the wake of the death on the ice of former NHL player Adam Johnson during an Elite Ice Hockey League game in the United Kingdom on October 28. Johnson suffered a fatal cut to his neck from an opponent’s skate blade.
The NHL does not mandate the use of cut-resistant materials and cannot do so without the cooperation and approval of the NHL Players’ Association, but Bettman said he encourages players to wear the products available to them. He was hesitant to say if or when the league and NHLPA would mandate the use of such materials, but he expects it will happen.
“We have a joint committee (Protective Equipment Sub-Committee) with the players’ association, we work collaboratively, there’s a lot of research going on and I think we might get there in the end,” Bettman said.
NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said the joint committee will meet during All-Star Weekend in Toronto in early February.
“Then we’ll talk about it,” Daly said. “It was much more of a report [to the Board of Governors] on what we have done in the past and what we have done, and the emphasis we have placed on cut-resistant materials.