Not so fast on Canucks getting more financial flexibility from the NHL

Some surprising speculation emerged a few days ago, courtesy of Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman. And it was something which stood to benefit the Vancouver Canucks and the rest of the NHL - at least those teams who aren't shy about spending money in their attempts to produce a contender.

As per Jacob Punturi of Sports Illustrated, Friedman claims the NHL salary cap is going to rise a fair bit more next season, than the previous projection. The NHL Insider said:

"Unless something really goes off the rails. I think we're gonna see a $95 to $97 (million) cap this year, as long as the CBA gets done as part of it."

Extra money for the Canucks to spend

This would be a big win for the likes of the Canucks. As things stand, the salary cap is set to rise from $88 million this season, to $92.5 million in 20245-26.

As per PuckPedia, based on the current projection of $92.5 million, this gives the Canucks just over $15.052 million of cap space, and with 17 of 23 roster spots filled. However, if the salary cap for 2025-26 rose to either $95 million or $97 million, this would give them between an additional $2.5 million and $4.5 million.

However, just as Canucks fans might have begun thinking where the extra money could be used, more information came out on Tuesday to put a dampener on things. And of course it would be Gary Bettman who was involved in doing this.

Bettman denies the speculated figures

Basically, Bettman told the media that the speculation wasn't all it would seem. As per Sportsnet, the NHL Commissioner said:

"I don't know where that came from. The numbers that were being thrown around were not accurate, and any change would require an agreement between (the league) and the players' association in terms of how it's computed, and we haven't had those discussions. So somebody, I think, floated something on a slow news day."

Now before anyone gets too deflated by Bettman's comments, let's consider a couple of things. First, Friedman is one of the most connected and well-respected journalists in the NHL.

Friedman is not exactly renowned for just sharing anything for the sake of it, without first double, triple and maybe even quadruple-checking the information. The fact it was he who first came out with this speculation, means it carries some gravitas, something which even his harshest critics must surely acknowledge.

Secondly, as much as Bettman claims the figures being thrown out are not accurate, you have to read between the lines with his comments. For example, he says any changes would require an agreement between the two sides, but this doesn't mean any figures haven't been discussed full stop, for example, among members of the league office.

Are we showing too much faith in Friedman?

Now yes, what we're doing now is speculating ourselves, with no inside information in all of this. In addition, we could quite easily be trying to hard to find another meaning in Bettman's words and/or having too much faith and confidence in Friedman.

Having said that, we'll leave you with some final comments from that man Friedman, which could also allude to the salary cap rising more than currently projected for the 2025-25 season. He said:

"The revenues have grown faster than the guardrails that were held on the cap. The cap right now, depending on who you talk to, but the cap should be somewhere in the $100 million range."

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