NHL salary cap increasing significantly the next few years. How that helps the Panthers
The NHL’s salary cap is set to rise steeply — and that’s a boon for the Florida Panthers.
The league and the NHL Players’ Association on Friday announced that the sides agreed to salary cap estimates for the next three seasons.
The numbers agreed upon, with the final two seasons contingent on the collective bargaining agreement between the league and players association still being in effect (it expires after the 2025-26 season):
▪ 2025-26: A $7.5 million increase, bringing the salary cap to $95.5 million and the floor to $70.6 million.
▪ 2026-27: An $8.5 million increase, bringing the salary cap to $104 million and the floor to $76.9 million.
▪ 2027-28: A $9.5 million increase, bringing the salary cap to $113.5 million and the floor to $83.9 million.
The Panthers already have a majority of their top players signed to multi-year deals, a credit to president of hockey operations and general manager Bill Zito’s ability and desire to keep the team’s core intact after stringing together five consecutive playoff appearances, two consecutive trips to the Stanley Cup Final and the franchise’s first championship last season.
However, Florida is still working on re-signing two key players in second-line center Sam Bennett and top-pairing defenseman Aaron Ekblad.
The major uptick in the future salary cap should help the Panthers be able to get those deals done.
Consider the following...
The Panthers currently have 15 players signed through at least next season with known contract numbers that have a combined cap hit of $72.5 million. That group:
▪ Nine forwards in Aleksander Barkov ($10 million), Matthew Tkachuk ($9.5 million), Sam Reinhart ($8.63 million), Carter Verhaeghe ($7 million), Anton Lundell ($5 million), Evan Rodrigues ($3 million), Eetu Luostarinen ($3 million), A.J. Greer ($850,000) and Jonah Gadjovich ($775,000).
Two other forwards — Mackie Samoskevich and Jesper Boqvist — are restricted free agents, with Florida having the first opportunity to re-sign them and the chance to match an opponent’s offer sheet.
▪ Four defensemen in Gustav Forsling ($5.75 million), Niko Mikkola ($2.5 million), Dmitry Kulikov ($1.15 million) and Uvis Balinskis ($850,000).
▪ Two goaltenders in Sergei Bobrovsky ($10 million) and Spencer Knight ($4.5 million.)
Assuming all are still with the Panthers next season, that leaves them with $23 million to fill out at least five — and up to eight — remaining roster spots.
How much will Bennett and Ekblad cost to retain? Nothing is set in stone yet, but let’s project a little bit.
Bennett is finishing a four-year, $17.7 million contract that he signed shortly after being acquired by Florida in a trade with the Calgary Flames. Ekblad’s current deal that is wrapping up is an eight-year, $60 million deal. Those two deals have had a combined cap hit of $11.425 million per season.
Bennett is in line for a raise in his next contract — likely in line with an average annual value, which determines the cap hit each season, between $6 million and $7 million. Ekblad’s current AAV is $7.5 million. Considering Forsling, his defense partner who has been more consistent (and healthier) over the past few seasons, is making less than $6 million per year, it’s tough to see Ekblad earning more than that.
But let’s say hypothetically that Ekblad gets the same AAV he has now at $7.5 million and Bennett gets a deal worth $7 million per year. Even with that $14.5 million being added to Florida’s cap hit, the Panthers would still have $8.5 million to work with to fill out the rest of their roster while keeping their entire core in place.
Samoskevich and Boqvist are making a combined $1.7 million right now. Even if that number doubled next season, that’s only $3.4 million. Florida’s remaining cap space with 20 of 23 spots filled at that point: $5.1 million.
The final three spots from there would likely be a pair of defensemen (one to round out the lineup, one as an extra) and one forward (a second extra to go with the 13 Florida already has).
Zito has had much more success with much stricter salary restrictions. This large annual salary cap increases gives him flexibility and opportunity to continue fortifying the Panthers’ roster as they look to keep their window for deep playoff runs open as long as possible.
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