NHL salary cap set at $81.5M for 2019-20 season

The salary cap limit for the 2019-20 season has been set at $81.5 million, the league announced Saturday.

It marks a $2-million increase from last season's cap but is lower than the $83-million projection commissioner Gary Bettman provided after the league's board of governors meetings in December.

The cap floor will be $60.2 million.

The relatively low upper number creates extra headaches for teams up against the cap, but the league could see an increase in transactions with the figure now set and general managers completely aware of their limits.