Project future NHL salary caps based on league revenue, player share percentage, and team count. Analyze historical trends and estimate how changes in revenue will impact the salary cap.
Based on $6.9B revenue with 32 teams
+6.0% projected growth
Current NHL
The average revenue growth since the 2012-13 lockout has been approximately 8.6% annually.
We're using a conservative 6% estimate by default, but you can adjust the growth rate below.
The NHL salary cap system is currently in a transition period due to COVID-19 impacts. Normally, the NHL has a 50/50 revenue split between owners and players, but the league implemented a "flat cap" for several seasons where the salary cap didn't grow in proportion to revenue.
Rather than jumping immediately from the artificially low cap to the true 50/50 split (which would cause a massive one-year spike), the NHL is implementing a gradual "smoothing" approach where the cap slowly catches up to where it should be.
Based on current projections, we estimate the salary cap will fully catch up to the 50/50 revenue split by the 2029-30 season. You can adjust this convergence timeline using the slider below.
Historical data from 1990-91 to present, with projections through 2033-34