The NHL is hosting the Board of Governors Meetings this week in Florida, so there’s a lot of news buzzing around that (much like baseball’s Winter Meetings). There’s a lot going on in arenas around the league as well, so let’s take a quick lap and catch up with some rumblings.
The Great One talked about Ovi chasing his record (and he’s skating already), the salary cap might go up a bunch, new CBA negotiations are coming soon and more.
CBA / Salary Cap News
The salary cap for the 2025-26 season has been mentioned at $92.5M by league officials, which reflects the standard five percent increase prescribed by the current CBA. However, the NHLPA may ask for an more significant increase in the coming offseason. League-wide revenues are up and are expected to continue to grow in coming years. Instead of one massive jump in the next couple years, both sides may look to take a ???phase-in??? approach that makes two larger steps up rather than one massive jump. I’ve seen numbers anywhere between $94-97M for a ceiling for next year thrown around.
One of the drivers for that conversation is negotiating a new Collective Bargaining Agreement. The current CBA expires in September 2026. NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman told the media in Florida that expectations are that there will be a first formal negotiating session in February, and that the League hopes to have something in place as soon as June (around the time of the Stanley Cup Final). That would be awesome, because nobody wants another work stoppage on Bettman’s watch.
Gretzky Talks Ovechkin
Wayne Gretzky made an appearance at the meetings and talked about how the league — and himself personally — are going to begin celebrating Alex Ovechkin’s journey to pass his all-time goal scoring record. Ovechkin suffered a broken leg just a couple weeks ago but has already started skating because… apparently he’s not human.
As reported by Tom Gulitti this morning, Alex Ovechkin was on the ice again as he continues to work his way back from a broken leg, and he had a special guest at his side: Nicklas Backstrom.https://t.co/cucVXRluuX
— Sammi Silber 🏒 (@sammisilber) December 11, 2024
Ovechkin scored his 800th career goal at the United Center — with a hat trick. And the Caps are at the Blackhawks on Dec. 17. Keep that in mind… Here’s some of what The Great One said about Ovechkin from a good story at The Athletic about his conversation with the media this week:
???I talk to Alex periodically and I always wish him the best,??? Gretzky said. ???He???ll be fine. He???s handled the pressure. He???s won the Stanley Cup. He???s been a big part of the success of the NHL. He???s been a huge part of the Washington Capitals.
???Listen, he???s been nothing but positive for our sport and that???s most important. And good for him, man.???
