ESPN.com · Feb 27, 2025
NHL trade deadline 2025 Big Board: Which players could move?
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The rise of the salary cap changes everything in the NHL.
On Jan. 31, the league and the NHLPA announced an agreement to create "increased predictability" about the salary cap over the next three seasons, provided there's a new collective bargaining agreement beyond the 2025-26 season. The upper limits for the cap are projected as:
2025-26: $95.5 million
2026-27: $104 million
2027-28: $113.5 million
It's a shrewd negotiating tactic, giving the players a sense of the league's prosperity and their own future earning potential under a skyrocketing cap. But it also materially changed how teams could approach the March 7 NHL trade deadline.