Kings Impact From NHL, NHLPA Agreeing on Salary Cap Structure

Sharing some leaguewide news from this morning, with a natural impact on the longer-term – and potentially shorter-term – outlook of the Kings.

As first shared today by several around the hockey community, later confirmed by the NHL and NHLPA, were projections for the salary cap over the next three seasons.

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said back in December that the cap was set to rise by a minimum of $4.4 million to 92.4 million, the maximum five percent negotiated in the CBA, but there were negotiations and talks ongoing to raise the cap by more than that, considering the growth of hockey related revenues to an all-time high. Bettman added that those changes could be mutually agreed upon and would not require a newly negotiated CBA to enact. Based on today’s reports, the sides were able to come to an agreement that provides a bit more “predictability”, per NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly, via TSN’s Pierre LeBrun.

“Both Clubs and Players have sought a certain level of predictability with respect to Payroll ranges from year to year and over time for advance planning capabilities. In reviewing our numbers with the Players’ Association as part of our collective bargaining, we finally felt like we were in a position to give them that. It’s not `absolute certainty,’ but maybe it’s the next best thing.”

NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly on today's salary cap news:
“Both Clubs and Players have sought a certain level of predictability with respect to Payroll ranges from year to year and over time for advance planning capabilities. In reviewing our numbers with the Players’…

— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) January 31, 2025

As per the league’s release, here are the projections going forward for the 2025-26, 2026-27 and 2027-28 seasons –

2025-26
Upper Limit: $95.5 Million
Lower Limit: $70.6 Million

2026-27
Upper Limit: $104 Million
Lower Limit: $76.9 Million

2027-28
Upper Limit: $113.5 Million
Lower Limit: $83.9 Million

The number for next season is an increase of $7.5 million over the 2024-25 figure and an additional $3.1 million over the five-percent increase. That is followed by increases of $8.5 million and $9.5 million over the following two seasons. The numbers for next season are firm, though the totals for the 2026-27 and 2027-28 seasons could be “subject to minor adjustments (up or down).”

Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff added that these numbers aren’t just a projection, but rather an agreement between the NHL and NHLPA regarding both the upper and lower limits. The salary-cap floor shouldn’t be a huge concern here for the Kings, but the lower-limit by the 2027-28 season will be nearly what the cap ceiling is here in 2024-25. This was confirmed by the overall release

Here’s how this impacts the Kings.

First off, what does the cap increase truly mean? I’ll use Mikey Anderson as an example, because he is the longest contracted member of the organization, through 2031. He is also the team’s NHLPA rep. This season, Anderson’s cap hit of $4.125 accounts for 4.7 percent of the salary cap. By the 2027-28 season, that number will be just 3.6 percent. Feels small, but here’s the equivalent.

A 4.7 percent hit on the cap in 2027-28 will be a $5.3 million dollar cap hit. A 3.6 percent hit during the 2024-25 season would be a $3.2 million dollar cap hit. Pretty big difference. Longer term deals like Anderson’s will only get better with age, while players like say Adrian Kempe, who is on a team-friendly contract right now, would be in line for probably a larger contract in the summer of 2026 because of the increases. There’s give and take.

As of this writing, the Kings could have more than $25 million in salary-cap space to work with in advance of next season and more than $50 million going into the 2026-27 season. The team is very tight against the cap right now, as just about every team around the NHL is, but getting this type of predictability going forward could lead to a more active trade market, with teams fully understanding what they’re working with next season as it pertains to trading for players with term left on their contracts.

The Kings currently have nine forwards, seven defensemen and one goaltender signed to contracts for next season.

Forwards (9) – Byfield, Danault, Fiala, Foegele, Kempe, Kopitar, Moore, Thomas, Turcotte
Defensemen (7) – Anderson, Burroughs, Clarke, Doughty, Edmundson, Moverare, Spence
Goaltenders (1) – Kuemper

Those 16 players, per Puck Pedia, amount to a total of $70,438,334 in projected cap hits. Not included in that total is forward Samuel Heleinus, who could be projected to fill a fourth-line role at a cap hit of $805,833, which would allot more space elsewhere. Also not accounted for is forward Liam Greentree, who has been arguably the top offensive player in the OHL this season. Not sure he’s in that mix just yet, but he would also come in at a six-figure hit before bonuses if the Kings see him as ready to compete for a spot. That’s down the road, though.

The most important contract, for me, is forward Alex Turcotte. Turcotte has played almost the entire season in the top nine at a league minimum cap hit. If he is able to continue to take strides forward, that’s among the best contracts in the NHL. It will also allow the Kings to add higher-priced players elsewhere, either via trade or free agency, to fill other holes in their lineup while they are getting a ton of value from players like Turcotte.

Key financial decisions going forward include defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov, who is unrestricted at the end of the season, and forward Alex Laferriere, who is restricted this summer. Forwards Trevor Lewis and Tanner Jeannot, along with defenseman Andreas Englund and goaltender David Rittich are also unrestricted free agents as of July 1, as are defenseman Caleb Jones and goaltender Pheonix Copley, who played games earlier this season.

The biggest two numbers are certainly Gavrikov and Laferriere.

Gavrikov is 29 and is likely in line for his big-ticket contract. He and the Kings settled on a two-year deal as a UFA back in the summer of 2023. The AAV was higher than it likely would have been on a longer-term deal, in exchange for the two-year term and a full no-movement clause. Haven’t heard a ton on Gavrikov one way or the other at this point. Still ample time between now and then. The last deal Gavrikov and the Kings negotiated came in May, just over a month before unrestricted free agency hit. Will update there as we hear more.

On Laferriere, there is obviously a lot more flexibility and the restricted nature means there is no July 1 deadline. Looking at last summer, wonder if a player like Kirill Marchenko is a comparable. He signed a bridge deal for three years at just under a cap hit of $4 million. Similar offensive totals between Laferriere’s pace this season and Marchenko’s last season, with Marchenko obviously greatly out-performing his contract this season. The difference, though, is the knowledge of what future cap ceilings could be to come and the Kings have that while teams last summer did not.

The other way this impacts the Kings is if they look to make a trade this season, taking on a contract that has term is an option. They know what their cap space is for next season and they know how many spots on the roster they have to fill. If you include Helenius, which I would for now, that leaves a goaltender and 3-4 skaters to fill with what would be just under $25 million. While challenging to fit a player into the cap this season, taking on term, knowing these figures is not a problem for the Kings right now. Whether they look to do that or not is a different story.

Jim Hiller was asked last night if he’s at a point where he’s going to management and asking for help anywhere. He said he is not, adding that doesn’t believe that external help is needed.

“This is the same group of guys who played extremely well and won a lot of games if you go back the 6, 7, 8 games we’ve struggled. It’s the same group of guys. The puck was going in for them then, I don’t think it’s ever going to go in at a really high rate for us, that’s clear, but it’s going to go in more than it is. We’ll get ourselves through it and we’ll talk about it, I’m sure it’s frustrating for us, but I don’t think we gain anything by doing that, as a team.”

Ultimately, it won’t just be Hiller’s call. Rob Blake and his staff are responsible there, though there is obviously a dialogue between General Manager and Coach that is ongoing. To give up assets to acquire a player, everyone has to be in lockstep on usage. Today’s news, though, should give the team more options at the deadline, knowing that the Kings can accommodate a player with term next season and beyond, or they could have the space to retain a player on a new contract who is a free agent at season’s end.