The salary cap flows directly from Hockey Related Revenue (HRR) — gate receipts, broadcast rights, sponsorships, licensing, digital and betting revenues. Players are entitled to exactly 50% of HRR as the "Players' Share." Each season the league withholds escrow from player paychecks; at year end, if total player compensation exceeded 50% of HRR, escrow goes to the league — if it fell short, players get it back. The Upper Limit is set each summer from projected HRR divided across the 32 clubs. Every club must also spend at least the Lower Limit (the floor).
A player's cap hit is the total value of his contract (salary + signing bonuses) divided by its length in years — constant every season regardless of how the actual dollars are distributed. A 7-year, $70M deal carries a $10M cap hit even if $20M is paid in year one. Front-loading with signing bonuses remains legal, but the 2025 MOU eliminated deferred compensation in new contracts.
LTIR gives cap relief when a player will miss at least 10 games and 24 days. The club's effective ceiling rises by up to the injured player's cap hit (the "LTIR pool"). The 2025 MOU closed the famous playoff loophole:
• If the player is expected to return during the season, relief is capped at the prior season's
Average League Salary (~$3.82M).
• Full relief is only available if the player is declared unfit for the remainder of the regular season
AND the playoffs.
• Teams also sometimes retroactively date IR/LTIR placements — the placement date, not the announcement
date, drives the daily cap accounting.
For the first time, playoff rosters must be cap-compliant: the 20 players dressed for each playoff game must fit under the Upper Limit, dead-cap charges included. A team's full roster may exceed the cap, but each game's lineup cannot. This ended the era of activating big LTIR contracts for the playoffs.
For contracts signed after September 16, 2026, the maximum term is 7 years re-signing with your own club, 6 years with a new club (down from 8/7). The league minimum salary rises each season: $850K (2026-27), $900K (2027-28), $950K (2028-29), $1M (2029-30). The maximum salary is 20% of the Upper Limit ($20.8M in 2026-27). Entry-level deals carry compensation caps with limited signing and performance bonuses; performance-bonus overages that exceed a team's cap room roll into the following season's cap as an overage charge.
Unrestricted free agents (UFA) — generally age 27 or 7 accrued seasons — may sign anywhere July 1. Restricted free agents (RFA) remain team property: the club retains negotiating rights by extending a qualifying offer (thresholds updated in 2025 to a $1.25M/$1.75M scale). Other clubs may sign RFAs to offer sheets — the current club can match, or take draft-pick compensation scaled to the offer's AAV. Unsigned RFAs carry a $0 cap hit until they sign (that is why they appear at $0 on team pages here).
Most players with NHL experience must clear waivers before being sent to the minors. Non-roster players don't count against the cap up to a burying threshold — cap hits above it leave a buried charge. The 2025 MOU tightened roster mechanics: maximum 5 regular recalls from affiliated minors, no more than 4 recalled players on the active roster at once, and paper loans are closed — a loaned player must actually report and play a game before he can be recalled.
Clubs may buy out contracts (ordinary-course buyouts pay 1/3 or 2/3 of remaining salary spread over twice the remaining term, leaving a multi-year cap charge). In trades, a club may retain up to 50% of a contract's cap hit, with a maximum of 3 retained-salary contracts at a time and an aggregate retention limit. Buyouts, retained salary, buried contracts and bonus overages together form a team's dead cap — money counting against the ceiling for players not on the roster.
Eligible RFAs (by age and professional experience) may elect salary arbitration — or clubs may elect it defensively. An arbitrator sets a 1- or 2-year award after a hearing (the hearing period now begins August 1). Clubs have limited walk-away rights on awards above a threshold. Arbitration timing frequently drives July signing dynamics.
• 84-game regular season, pre-season capped at 4 games (from 2026-27)
• Professional EBUGs — each team employs its own emergency backup goalie who travels with the team
• ELS caps auto-adjust with the rising minimum salary; European age-25-27 ELC rule deleted
• Escrow-setting process revised to reduce volatility
• Player Fund grows to $34-40M per season (2026-27 through 2029-30)
• Contracts guaranteed on hockey-related-injury death; expanded bonus eligibility for injured veterans (400+ games, 100+ IR days)