Blackhawks: Could the NHL salary cap go down for next year?

The NHL’s salary cap will likely be affected by the shutdown, but in what way isn’t clear. With players to re-sign, the Chicago Blackhawks must be prepared

Before the season was put on hold, expectations were that the salary cap would be going up next year. According to Sporting News, that amount could fall “between $84 million and $88.2 million.” That estimated sum was back at the beginning of March.

That was before everything ground to a halt.

Now, with the season potentially not happening altogether, it’s hard to guess what the cap might look like next year.

There’s no way that the league hasn’t already taken a hit financially. The regular season would be more just about over (the Blackhawks final game was scheduled April 4, against the NY Rangers),  the league would be gearing up for the postseason.

The loss of money though will almost certainly impact the overall revenues, and of course, the NHL’s salary cap.

About a week ago, SportsNet interviewed Bill Daly and asked about the cap. He didn’t offer specifics, but said,

"“…the disruption of the season is going to affect the generation of revenues and what we end up with in (hockey-related revenues) and the formula we have in our CBA to formulate a cap.”"

So the short answer is, “yes”, there is going to be an impact on the cap, but how much of one depends on how the league can salvage the season if they can.

It is very likely though that final cap for next season will be lower, and substantially lower, than the initial projections.

Until the final numbers are presented, the impact won’t be clear. However, the Chicago Blackhawks likely wouldn’t benefit very much from a lower cap if they want to re-sign players like Dylan Strome, Corey Crawford, and Dominik Kubalik.

The next few months are going to be a wild ride, even if the season doesn’t pick back up.