Gary Bettman Already Wants To Ruin Your Christmas, Says He Has No Idea Where Massive Salary Cap Increase Numbers Are Coming From
Andre Ringuette. Getty Images.Gary Bettman met with the media last night in Ottawa. You know how every once in a while the Grinch would come down from his mountain just to fuck with the people of Whoville? Well apparently that's what Gary was doing last night by meeting with the media. Because when the topic of a major increase in next year's salary cap came up, he had this to say…
The Athletic -- "I don’t know where that came from,” Bettman said. “The numbers that were being thrown around were not accurate and any change would require an agreement between us, the league and the Players Association in terms of how it’s computed. We haven’t had those discussions. So somebody, I think, floated something on a slow news day."
The numbers he's talking about are probably from this Elliotte Friedman report where he said the cap could go up as high as $95-97 million next year from the $88 million it sits at currently.
Could you imagine if the salary cap jumped $9 million for next season? That's an entire 30-goal and 85-point scorer. That's basically a top tier player on your roster right now for free next year.
Think about how many teams right now are jammed up against the cap. Think about how many teams right now have one or two long term $4-5 million contracts that are looking like an awful investment at the moment. The salary cap jumping up to $95-97 million would completely erase those mistakes. Pretty much every team in the league would have a chance to go out this summer and make a major splash in free agency or a blockbuster trade.
But Gary Bettman doesn't want you, the fans, to experience joy. He barely even wants you to think the salary cap is increasing at all next season. From the same Athletic article -- The 2025-26 salary cap is estimated at $92.5 million, but Bettman said that figure was “way preliminary” in October.
I mean…I get it. You don't want the whole hockey world going around thinking teams are going to have $100 million to spend next year and then you pull the rug out from under them and the cap is barely above 90. But couldn't Gary have at least given us a few weeks to dream? Couldn't he allow us to come up with our dream scenarios about what we'd do with that extra $9 million for a little while? Give us until the Four Nations tournament, and then you can shoot it down whenever you're doing media availabilities there. Gary the Grinch couldn't even give us until Thanksgiving to dream, let alone Christmas.
P.S. -- Elliotte Friedman is one of the best in the biz. I doubt he'd ever float those numbers out there just because it was "a slow news day". There's definitely something there.