According to Marco D’Amico of RG, the NHL’s profits for the 2023-24 season were much higher than expected. As a result, players are set to get back the full 6% of their escrow payments, along with an additional 1.5 to 2%. This means players will receive about 101.5 to 102% of their salaries for the 2023-24 season.
The league has recovered financially after struggling during the pandemic years, and both players and teams are expected to benefit from this improvement.
Escrow is a system where a portion of player salaries is held back to make sure there is a 50/50 split of hockey-related revenue between the players and the owners.
For the 2024-25 season, the NHL’s salary cap ceiling is set at $88 million. It was originally projected to rise to around $92-93 million for the 2025-26 season. However, it is now expected to increase even more.
Prominent NHL agent Allan Walsh recently reported that the salary cap ceiling will go up to $97 million for the 2025-26 season, marking a 10% increase.
This is especially good news for the New York Islanders.
With the current $88 million salary cap, the Islanders would have struggled to sign all their pending free agents if the salary cap stayed flat or increased only slightly next season.
Some of the Islanders’ key free agents include Brock Nelson, Kyle Palmieri, Simon Holmstrom, Maxim Tsyplakov, Noah Dobson, and Alexander Romanov, whose combined cap hit is currently $19.3 million.
Nelson and Palmieri, both 33 years old, are set to become unrestricted free agents this offseason.
Dobson, Romanov, Holmstrom, and Tsyplakov are all restricted free agents but are eligible for arbitration.
Though these six players have had mixed performances this season, their combined cap hit for their next contracts is likely to rise, possibly reaching $25-30 million.
It’s still unclear whether the Islanders will trade Nelson or Palmieri before the 2025 trade deadline, but a full rebuild seems unlikely.
Even if general manager Lou Lamoriello decides to trade one or two players, the Islanders are expected to be active in the free-agent market starting July 1.
The Islanders have 14 players under contract for next season, not including Marcus Hogberg’s $775,000, which brings their total to $66.66 million.
With big names like Mikko Rantanen, Mitch Marner, Nikolaj Ehlers, and Sam Bennett expected to be available as free agents, the Islanders now have the financial flexibility to make a major signing without having to sacrifice many players from their current roster.
Although no official numbers have been confirmed by the league, recent reports suggest the outlook for the Islanders is very promising.
