Bettman: Potential cap increase of up to $9M 'not accurate'

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman took issue with a report over the weekend that indicated the NHL and NHLPA could raise the league's salary cap by up to $9 million.

"I don't know where that came from," Bettman told the media, including Sportsnet, in Ottawa on Tuesday. "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, and we haven't had those discussions. So somebody, I think, floated something on a slow news day."

Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman reported Saturday that the NHL and NHLPA were going to discuss increasing the cap by a rate between $7 million and $9 million for the 2025-26 season. The report didn't say the two sides had already held discussions about the matter, but that they planned to in the future.

"Anything's possible, but as I said, the numbers weren't anywhere close to accurate," Bettman added.

The NHL's salary cap is $88 million for the current campaign. The cap can increase by up to 5% each year, according to the CBA, but the two sides can agree to a larger increase. They lifted the cap ceiling by 5.39% from $83.5 million over the summer.

A standard 5% increase from $88 million would be $92.4 million. The reportedly proposed hike would land it between $95 million and $97 million.

The CBA runs until September 2026.