Board of Governors Updates – Gary Bettman on Salary Cap, Collective Bargaining, International Play

Will resume our regularly scheduled LA Kings content soon, but thought this was important as well to share here, as much of the information from the above media availability with NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman does impact the Kings in a variety of different ways.

Pulling a few segments that I thought were important below –

Salary Cap
Per Bettman, the NHL’s Salary Cap is set to rise by a minimum of $4.4 million to $92.4 million, from where it presently sits at $88 million. That represents the maximum five-percent raise as dictated by the CBA.

Bettman added that there are ongoing discussions with the NHLPA about the cap potentially rising more than the agreed upon $5 million, with hockey related revenues projected to be higher than they’ve ever been in league history. Those discussions involve how the cap could be “tweaked” on an ongoing basis going forward, in what would require a mutual agreement between the NHL and the NHLPA. Those discussions are already happening, per Bettman, and would not require a new CBA to be approved in order to make changes surrounding the 2025-26 salary cap.

How the five-percent increase would impact the Kings is with a ton of flexibility going into next season.

Presently, per Puck Pedia, the Kings have 18 players signed for the 2025-26 campaign, with what would amount to at least $20 million in cap space to round out the remainder of their roster.

Forwards (10) – Byfield, Danault, Fiala, Foegele, Helenius, Kempe, Kopitar, Moore, Thomas, Turcotte

Defensemen (7) – Anderson, Burroughs, Clarke, Doughty, Edmundson, Moverare, Spence

Goaltender (1) – Kuemper

Naturally there are a few key free agents, including defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov as an unrestricted free agent on the blueline and forward Alex Laferriere, who is a restricted free agent up front, while forward Tanner Jeannot is an unrestricted free agent. Those players would certainly eat into that number, if deals are struck, but there would almost certainly be additional money to spend to improve the roster if the Kings find a move that they believe can help the team.

In total, the Kings have eight players who have played NHL games with the club who are free agents this summer.

RFA (3) – Kaliyev, Laferriere, Lee

UFA (5) – Englund, Gavrikov, Jeannot, Jones, Lewis

So, there are decisions to be made for the Kings going forward. Puck Pedia has the Kings with a cap hit of $71,244,167 for those 18 players. With a cap of $92.4 million, that would leave just over $20 million with which to fill out the roster.

Collective Bargaining Negotiations
The current CBA runs through the end of the 2025-26 season, with Bettman noting that the two sides will begin formalized discussions over a new deal this coming February, with hopes of getting a deal completed by the end of the 2024-25 season, perhaps even in advance of the Stanley Cup Final, should things go as smoothly as he hopes they will.

Bettman classified the relationship with the NHLPA as “open and constructive” with Bettman highlighting the working relationship with Marty Walsh and Ron Hainsey as being “very constructive, professional and cordial”. As such, he feels that the discussions are more ongoing, with the sides meeting regularly on a variety of issues.

Naturally, there is a hard deadline for the league needing to get something done in advance of the 2026-27 season but we’re a ways off from that point. At this point, Bettman certainly didn’t seem particularly concerned about where things are at, repeatedly highlighting the relationship between the NHL and the NHLPA at this time.

Bettman repeatedly declined questions regarding specific CBA-related issues such as the league’s schedule, LTIR in the playoffs, expansion and a few others. Preferred to have those conversations directly with the NHLPA, as opposed to through the media. So, no updates on those fronts, but sounds like they are being thought of.

International Competitions
With Adrian Kempe set to represent Team Sweden at the 4 Nations Faceoff this February, the focus for a team like the Kings now turns to the Olympics.

Naturally, Kempe would be a favorite to play for Sweden in 2026 at that event, but the Olympics would also open up opportunities to a player like Kevin Fiala, who could represent Team Switzerland. Should Russia participate, defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov would certainly be in that mix, as would a healthy Drew Doughty for Team Canada when he gets back into the flow. Imagine that goaltender David Rittich would be an option for Team Czechia and if defenseman Mikey Anderson continues to play at his current level, he should be in that mix with Team USA. Lots of time to get to that point.

The NHL previously committed to playing in the 2026 Olympics in Milan, Italy. Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly said he is “confident” that the NHL will participate, as it said it would, noting that the league exchanged documents on Friday with the IOC and IIHF, which helps keep things moving forward.

Daly also added that the league met with the IIHF in November in Toronto to discuss the return of the World Cup of Hockey and they are expecting an update on that front by the end of the 2024 calendar year. Back in February, the league announced that the preferred return of the World Cup would be in 2028, with an eight-team tournament.

The hope would be to established an every-other-year format for best on best hockey, which hasn’t been played since the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.

Full interview embedded at the top here for a coupe of areas that don’t really impact the Kings.

Also coming later on this trip will be a story on Mikey Anderson, who took over this season as the lead NHLPA rep for the Kings, after Matt Roy departed as a free agent this summer. Got some good intel from Anderson on what exactly the job entails, how involved he’s been and a larger meeting held in New York involving the Kings and NHLPA leadership, which dove into a number of topics. More to come on that front!

Back to regularly scheduled programming this afternoon. Kings are set to practice today at 1 PM local time, 10 AM Pacific at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ. Will have interviews from practice to set up tomorrow’s game against the Devils, as the Kings look to make it seven straight wins.