If the NHL’s revenue split is eventually altered, addressing the salary cap - specifically teams that would be over a new ceiling - would be one of the big questions.
In the owners’ latest proposal, a team could max out the salary cap up to $70 million in the first season of the new CBA, according to ESPN’s Pierre LeBrun.
There are three teams already pretty close to the $70 million mark for the 2012-13 season, according to Cap Geek’s numbers.
The Boston Bruins ($68.87 million), Minnesota Wild ($68.85 million) and Vancouver Canucks ($67.77 million) are all less than $3 million away from that proposed high-end.
Even so, those teams would probably need to shed salary at some point. Still, it’s interesting to see that the league would give those franchises some breathing room to adapt to whatever the new cap would be.
A few GMs (such as Boston’s Peter Chiarelli, pictured) would probably breathe a sigh of relief.