If you’ve been following the NHL offseason free-agency news, then you’ll know that contracts have taken a significant upswing in recent months, more specifically, the push to get younger players into eight-year contracts.
The old NHL Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) expired yesterday, September 15th, and the new agreement kicks in and runs through September 2030.
There was a rush to get deals done under the old CBA, which permitted eight-year terms and more substantial front-loaded contract structures than the new agreement. NHL general managers are also hoping that signing a player to a larger AAV early in their career will lead to significant savings later in the player’s deal.
The most notable recent signings
• Cale Makar (Colorado Avalanche): Signed an eight-year extension worth $163.2 million, carrying a league-high $20.4 million AAV.
• Macklin Celebrini (San Jose Sharks): Signed a five-year, $94 million extension ($18.8 million AAV).
• Leo Carlsson (Anaheim Ducks): Signed a five-year, $90 million contract with the Ducks after the team matched an offer-sheet from the Philadelphia Flyers ($18 million AAV).
• Cutter Gauthier (Anaheim Ducks): Signed a six-year, $81 million contract with the Ducks ($13.5 million AAV).
• Drake Batherson (Ottawa Senators): Signed an eight-year contract extension worth $86 million in September 2026 ($10.75 million AAV).
• Ryan Leonard (Washington Capitals): Signed an eight-year contract extension worth $84 million ($10.5 million AAV).
This is a diverse group of players who are completely capitalizing on the current situation. Obviously, Cale Makar and Macklin Celebrini are at the very top of the elite NHL player hierarchy, and both players’ salaries are commensurate with their respective tiers within the NHL.
We all know the Leo Carlsson drama that essentially kicked off this gold rush of increasing salaries. He’s a very good player with fantastic potential, but in my opinion, his current AAV is massively inflated. I don’t think this contract will ever be considered a “steal” or an “underpay.”
Good for Leo. He and his agent got a big payout because of the contempt and bitterness that the Philadelphia Flyers held toward the Ducks over one player: Cutter Gauthier.
Ryan Leonard and Drake Batherson are the most recent recipients of eight-year deals, and both will be mainstays of their organizations for years to come. I think Ryan Leonard will eventually outplay his contract, but not quite yet. And Drake Batherson’s deal will take him through age 36. This deal will absolutely end up biting the Senators at the back end of this contract.
But having said all of that, I believe that every NHL player deserves to make the salaries they are earning based on their skill and importance to their teams and the sport.
NHL players’ salaries lag significantly behind those of their fellow “four major sports” contemporaries in North America. And it’s not because they aren’t worth it. It’s because the NBA, MLB, and NFL are light-years more profitable and successful than the NHL. Hate to burst your bubble, NHL fanatics, but it’s the truth.
So why are these NHL GMs so confident in these newer big-ticket deals that they’ve been handing out? And why is the NHL salary landscape rising so high, so fast?
It was announced that the NHL salary cap will be going up this season and incrementally increasing for several seasons to come:
• 2025–26: $95.5 million (an increase of $7.5 million)
• 2026–27: $104 million (an increase of $8.5 million)
• 2027–28: $113.5 million (an increase of $9.5 million)
The NHL has seen recent success driven by rising franchise values, big-money sponsorships, and increased broadcast viewership. The numbers say that the NHL is more popular than ever, and the league plans on spreading its wings even further into the broader sports market.
The NHL also plans to expand the number of teams in the league—whether purist fans like it or not—as part of its future growth strategy, potentially reaching 34 or 36 teams. Prospective ownership groups are reportedly facing proposed expansion fees starting at $2 billion.
The favorites for that expansion are Houston, Atlanta, and Phoenix.
Yes, you read that correctly. They want to go BACK into two markets, Atlanta and Phoenix—where the NHL failed miserably.
According to Forbes Magazine, the NHL’s impending deal with Dan Friedkin for a new NHL team, which has a target debut of playing in Texas in the 2029–30 season, will also come with a $2 billion expansion fee that will be evenly distributed among all of Gary Bettman’s NHL owner overlords.
And OF COURSE, when they get that money, it will filter into a better fan experience, right?
We’ve all come to know that most billionaires are very altruistic and will “trickle down” their great wealth and good fortune to the people.
Furthermore, money will come rolling into the NHL through its highly lucrative television deals. This is headlined by the Rogers Communications deal, which is roughly $7.7 billion over 12 years. In the United States, the NHL’s national media rights are split between ESPN and Warner Bros. Discovery (TNT/TBS) under a seven-year deal running through 2028, generating more than $625 million annually.
Okay, so things are looking great for the NHL.
So, what’s the catch?
This is all great, but there’s clearly a downside to all this blossoming CAPITALISM within the sport that you know and love.
If you’ve been paying attention, I’ve been telling you how much money the OWNERS will be making—not how much money YOU will be saving because of their increasing profits and margins.
There’s a saying: “Pride goeth before a fall.”
While all of this sounds like great news for the game, I still feel skeptical that the NHL and its collective management and ownership entities may be putting the cart before the horse here.
The fact of the matter is that rising player salaries will come at a literal cost to the fans who love the sport.
•Ticket and Concession Prices Will Continue to Soar to Exorbitant Prices: NHL teams must fund these massive payrolls somehow. The burden of multi-million-dollar salary increases is consistently passed directly down to the consumer through more expensive game tickets, parking, concessions, and merchandise.
•Rising Costs of Watching Games: Rising payrolls require the league to seek out more television and streaming broadcast deals. For fans, this translates into fragmented broadcasting rights, requiring multiple monthly streaming subscriptions just to watch their local team without blackouts.
Most fans already feel disenfranchised with their franchises. And if the powers that be in the NHL continue to look for ways to divide and conquer as much of their fan base’s money as possible, that will lead to resentment and contempt for the league.
The NHL is adopting a “too big to fail” mentality when it comes to its sport. And they simply have not done enough to truly earn that confidence.
While the numbers show that the sport has trended upward, the NHL is held together by its fans’ loyalty and passion. And if you do things to take that away from the fan base that you so desperately need, then things can go south very quickly.
So, what I’m really trying to say is that the NHL needs to understand that it can’t take the same approach to profitability as the other three actual major sports do. Those three other sports know they have a monopoly on the sports viewing entertainment landscape, and they exploit to their hearts....and bank accounts content.
Growth needs to come more organically within the NHL. They are so desperate to play with the big boys of the sports world that they may be getting in over their skates.
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