The Blackhawks put up just one regulation goal once again on Saturday, with the Canucks becoming the fifth team in a row to completely stump Chicago’s offense. As the Blackhawks continue to struggle to find any production so they could win games, the 2024-25 season has quickly transitioned into a throwaway year. As a result, many have instead focused on the future and how Chicago can figure something out to find more wins down the road. Based on the latest surprising rumors about next year’s salary cap bump, bringing in high-caliber players could suddenly become nearly impossible for the Blackhawks.
The salary cap, which is currently set at $88 million, was expected to go up by around five percent to around $92.5 million next year based on league revenue, commissioner Gary Bettman estimated in early October. However, NHL insider Elliotte Friedman surprised everyone this weekend when he said on Sportsnet that the players have an option to bump the cap up by more than that. He said the league could be looking at a salary cap of $95-97 million by next season.
It always seems like a great idea for the league to bump up the cap, paying players more and keeping homegrown talent in place. However, if this jump is implemented before next season, it could be disastrous for the Blackhawks. That’s because Chicago has reached the point in its rebuild when they’ll be looking to add top free agents. The team has plenty of young talent coming out of the pipeline, like Connor Bedard, Lukas Reichel, Artyom Levshunov, Frank Nazar, Kevin Korchinski and countless others. To complete their roster for next year and down the road, they’ll be looking to add a few high-powered veterans, especially on the offensive news.
If this jump happens, however, that goal suddenly becomes a whole lot harder. It would largely eliminate the Blackhawks’ current advantage in cap space. With plenty of cap dollars going off the books over the next two years, they’re projected to have almost $31 million in space next season and a fresh slate of at least $63 million the year after that. The same can’t be said for teams like Colorado and Toronto, who likely wouldn’t be able to afford their biggest stars like Mikko Rantanen and Mitch Marner when their contracts expire next year. Chicago was likely poised to pounce, using its significant cap space to offer highly lucrative contracts to some of those players to pry them away from their former teams. If the cap jumps up $8-10 million, however, those big contracts suddenly become way more affordable for those cap-strapped teams. An increase of that magnitude could affect the Blackhawks more than any other team.
While the news is far from official, it wouldn’t be a surprise if the cap does jump up quite a bit, especially if the ball is in the court of the NHLPA, as Friedman reports. It would be a win-win for just about everyone, but not exactly the Blackhawks.
