The Rangers realistic salary cap situation

While we can bask in the glory of our New York Rangers staying alive until only three teams were left standing in the NHL, it’s time to take a hard look at the situation for the next few seasons and that discussion has to be about the salary cap.  We all know it is bad, but how bad it is it?

The future of the salary cap

The salary cap has been set at $81.5 million for the last three seasons, totally due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.  Though many franchises, especially the Canadian ones,  are still reeling from the financial hit they took, the cap is actually going up by $1 million for next season.

Here’s an estimate of what the NHL salary cap ceiling will be for the next few seasons (courtesy of capfriendly.com):

• 2022-23:  $82.5 million
• 2023-24:  $83.5 million
• 2024-25:  $84.5 million
• 2025-26:  $84.5 million

That’s a far cry from the pre-pandemic projections.  Just two years ago , the belief was that the cap was going to be $83.5 million for 2020-21 with it getting as high as $90 million by 2023-24.  We’re not even close.

The good news is the NHL is relatively healthy with their new television rights deals and sports betting providing an additional source of income. No matter what, the cap is still going to grow slowly and those pre-pandemic contracts will continue to hurt teams like the Rangers.

So, what does next year look like?   We’ll start by looking at the current roster of players under contract, under team control as Restricted Free Agent’s and the Unrestricted Free Agents.