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NHL Hoping To Set Cap Ceiling For 2025-26 Before Trade Deadline

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There’s optimism around the NHL announcing the upper limit for the 2025-26 season’s salary cap before the March 7 trade deadline, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet writes Thursday.

Doing so would allow teams significantly more advanced planning than they’re used to in several ways. Official numbers for cap changes usually aren’t announced until a few weeks prior to the new league year, meaning general managers would now have months instead of weeks to execute extension negotiations better. There’s also a chance that the league’s boom in hockey-related revenue coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic will allow them to announce preset cap numbers for the 2026-27 and potentially 2027-28 campaigns as well, Friedman wrote.

The current projection for next season’s salary cap laid out by commissioner Gary Bettman last month is $92.4MM, but better revenue projections over the past few weeks have added fuel to the fire of a significantly higher increase. Player agents have predicated an increase to as high as $97MM for 2025-26, Friedman wrote, a $9MM jump from this year’s $88MM ceiling.

Surging revenues are also putting more money into players’ pockets this season. Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff reported over the weekend that the league has terminated escrow withholding from players’ paychecks for the remainder of the season starting Jan. 30, with current HRR projections indicating the “amount already withheld will also be returned in full following final season accounting.” Players are also set to receive the full amount of escrow they had withheld from their 2023-24 paychecks plus an additional 1.5 to 2% to maintain the 50-50 revenue split between players and owners.

As for negotiations on the next CBA, set to commence soon to prevent a lockout in the 2026 offseason, Friedman writes, “There’s also reason to be optimistic in CBA negotiations. If the financials are sorted out, what on earth could stop a deal?”

News of a significant cap increase comes ahead of a potentially star-studded 2025 unrestricted free-agent market that, for now, is still set to feature names like Mitch Marner, Mikko Rantanen, and Nikolaj Ehlers.

Jets Interested In Jonathan Toews

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The Jets will be among the teams pursuing unrestricted free agent center Jonathan Toews if he attempts to continue his NHL career, general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff told Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic on Tuesday.

Toews, who turns 37 in April, told GQ last month he would give resuming his NHL career “his best shot,” and he hasn’t ultimately come to terms with his career being over. He hasn’t played in over a year and a half, missing the entirety of the 2020-21 season due to a severe flare-up of his Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (CIRS) and a good chunk of 2022-23 while dealing with long COVID symptoms exacerbated by CIRS.

Unsigned since the 2023 offseason, the lifelong Blackhawk will be a first-ballot Hall of Famer with three Stanley Cups, a Conn Smythe Trophy, a Selke Trophy, and four All-Star Game appearances on his résumé. He was also named one of the 100 greatest players in league history during its centennial season in 2017-18 and, for the Jets, would fill a growing hole down the middle.

Heading to his longtime Central Division rival would also mean suiting up for his hometown team. The first edition of the Jets were relocated to Phoenix when Toews was 8 years old, but he played youth hockey in Winnipeg until age 15, after which he headed south of the border to continue his development at American prep school Shattuck St. Mary’s before a two-year collegiate career at the University of North Dakota.

“It would be a real welcome conversation to see if there’s a fit both ways,” Cheveldayoff told LeBrun. “I think it would be a great story for his career, too. Not that he needs another story to [add to] his career. But I think he’s proud of his roots and would be an interesting fit.”

Whether Toews can factor into the Jets’ or any team’s picture for the 2024-25 campaign is still a gigantic question mark. LeBrun called it a “remote possibility” in an interview with TSN’s Jay Onrait on Wednesday, adding that Toews’ comments to GQ were more about “ramping up for next season.”

The Jets will still have some holes to fill at center for 2025-26. Adam Lowry and Mark Scheifele remain under contract and aren’t going anywhere, but the other half of their center complement, Rasmus Kupari and Vladislav Namestnikov. Coming off an extended absence with significant health concerns, Toews would likely be a Kupari replacement as Winnipeg’s fourth-line center if the two sides have productive conversations about a contract and fit.

Toews posted a career-worst -31 rating in his final season in Chicago, an understandable metric given his health issues and a paper-thin roster that yielded the league’s worst offense and a bottom-five defense. He still operated at a 50-point pace when healthy and won a career-best 63.1% of his faceoffs in 53 appearances, though, so regardless of other concerns about his overall game, he still likely carries value as a fourth-line faceoff specialist with adept two-way wingers.

Any Toews contract, regardless of if and where he signs, is almost certainly a one-year deal with a league-minimum base salary. Any additional value in the contract would almost certainly be through performance bonuses, which he’s eligible for as a 35+ UFA.

West Notes: Appleton, Fleury, Wood, Silovs, Utah

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The Jets welcomed back a pair of players for their game tonight against Colorado.  The team announced (Twitter link) that winger Mason Appleton and defenseman Haydn Fleury have been activated off injured reserve.  To make room on the roster, center Adam Lowry, who’s set to miss the next few weeks, was moved to IR.

Appleton has missed the last three weeks with a lower-body injury.  The 29-year-old has been a capable depth contributor for several seasons now and has six goals and nine assists through 37 games.  As for Fleury, he missed a little more than three weeks with a knee issue.  The 28-year-old is in his first season with the Jets, picking up six assists in 25 games thus far.  Following the moves, Winnipeg’s roster now stands at the maximum of 23 players.

More from out West:

  • While the Avalanche got some bad news about a key winger today, there’s some good news on the horizon for another one. In an appearance on Altitude Sports Radio (audio link), GM Chris MacFarland indicated that they’re hoping to get winger Miles Wood back within the next week or so, potentially at some point on their upcoming road trip.  The 29-year-old suffered an upper-body injury in late November and hasn’t played since.  Through 16 games this season, he has two goals and one assist in a little over 12 minutes a night of playing time.
  • After bringing him up on an emergency basis last night, the Canucks announced (Twitter link) that goaltender Arturs Silovs has been sent back to AHL Abbotsford. The 23-year-old started the season as Vancouver’s backup but struggled considerably, posting a 4.11 GAA and a .847 SV% in seven games, resulting in his demotion once Thatcher Demko returned.  In the minors, Silovs has fared a lot better, putting up a 2.53 GAA and a .906 SV% in eight outings with Abbotsford.
  • Utah’s efforts to find its full-time team name has run into some challenges. Their trademark applications for several team names was rejected by the United States Patent and Trademark Office, per KSL’s Ryan Miller.  The presumptive favorite, Yeti (or Yetis) was rejected due to a “likelihood of confusion” as were Blizzard and Venom.  Interestingly enough, their current moniker Hockey Club was also rejected though filing some additional paperwork would clear that one up.  The franchise is hoping to have its permanent name in place for next season but based on this news, they’re still a while away from that happening.

Jets Have Not Started Extension Talks With Any Pending Free Agents

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Generally, at this time of the year, teams will start discussions with at least some of their pending free agents to get a sense of what they might be looking for.  Sometimes, those discussions simply remain cursory while in others, they can lead to trades if an agreement isn’t reached by the trade deadline.

Last year, Winnipeg didn’t take that approach.  They ultimately held onto their pending free agents while adding to their roster and still managed to re-sign a key UFA when they re-upped Dylan DeMelo in the days leading up to free agency.  It appears they’re taking a similar approach this season.  In an intermission appearance on Monday (transcribed by Illegal Curve’s David Minuk), Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff indicated that there have been no negotiations yet between him and any of their pending free agents.

The list of players on expiring contracts is quite expansive.  Among the notable unrestricted free agents in July will be wingers Nikolaj Ehlers, Alex Iafallo, and Mason Appleton, center Vladislav Namestnikov, and defenseman Neal Pionk.  Meanwhile, winger Gabriel Vilardi, center Morgan Barron, and blueliner Dylan Samberg highlight the RFA class.  As things stand, Winnipeg has close to half their roster to try to keep in the fold.

At the moment, Winnipeg has a little over $52.6MM in commitments on the books for next season, per PuckPedia.  With the salary cap for next season still to be determined, Cheveldayoff doesn’t know yet how much money he’ll have to spend but it should be somewhere in the $40MM range.  That should be enough to keep or replace their core pieces on expiring deals and potentially add to that core group as well.

It’s also worth noting that the Jets are one of the top teams in the league.  Entering play tonight, Winnipeg sits atop the Western Conference with 65 points and they are only four behind Washington for the league lead in that department.  It’s fair to say they’re not going to be sellers so unless they’re fixed on avoiding the risk of letting one of their better rentals leaving for nothing in free agency, it’s not as if Cheveldayoff has to get contract talks going in the coming weeks.

Between now and the March 7th trade deadline, we’ll see plenty of activity pertaining to contract discussions and eventual extensions across the NHL.  But it appears Winnipeg won’t be particularly active on that front over the next six weeks.

Canucks Place Noah Juulsen On IR, Recall Elias Pettersson And Linus Karlsson

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The Canucks have made a trio of roster moves heading into Thursday’s game against Edmonton.  The team announced (Twitter link) that defenseman Noah Juulsen has been placed on injured reserve.  In corresponding moves, defenseman Elias Pettersson and forward Linus Karlsson were recalled from AHL Abbotsford.

Juulsen has missed the last week with an undisclosed injury.  The 27-year-old has played in 32 games with Vancouver this season and is still looking for his first point.  However, he has 57 blocked shots and 89 hits while averaging 16:34 per night, his highest ATOI since he was a prospect with Montreal over his first two professional seasons.  The team indicated that Juulsen’s placement was retroactive to January 14th, meaning he has already missed the required seven days and can be activated at any time once he’s cleared to return.

This is the second recall of the season for Pettersson, who has no relation to his namesake in Vancouver’s forward group.  The 20-year-old was a third-round pick by Vancouver back in 2022 and he’s in his first full season in North America.  Through 36 games in the minors, he has a goal and 12 assists and is still looking to make his NHL debut after his initial recall was only for one day.

As for Karlsson, the 25-year-old has been productive when available in Abbotsford.  He’s their only forward averaging more than a point per game as he has 12 goals and six assists through 17 outings at the AHL level.  That comes on the heels of a 2023-24 campaign that saw him collect 60 points in as many games.  Despite his success in the minors, NHL opportunities have been limited thus far for Karlsson.  He has just six games at the top level, two of which have come this season where he has been held off the scoresheet in a little over ten minutes per game.

With these moves, Vancouver’s active roster is now at the maximum of 23 players.

East Notes: Norris, Sillinger, Beck, Pacioretty

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While the Senators are set to welcome a forward back to their lineup on Thursday, they’ll be missing another one for at least the next few games.  Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch relays that center Josh Norris has been ruled out through the weekend, meaning he’ll miss at least the next three games.  The 25-year-old left Tuesday’s game in the first period for what was called precautionary reasons but he has been listed as having an upper-body injury.  Norris has 17 goals and 10 assists in 47 games so far this season, numbers that are comparable to the 16 and 14 respectively he had in 50 outings last year.  He also ranks second on the Sens in faceoff percentage and hits.

More from the Eastern Conference:

  • The Blue Jackets were without center Cole Sillinger for their game in Toronto. The team announced (Twitter link) that the 21-year-old is listed as day-to-day with an upper-body injury.  After putting 32 points in 77 games in 2023-24, Sillinger is on pace to eclipse that output relatively soon as he already has seven goals and 16 assists through his first 45 outings this season.
  • The Canadiens announced (Twitter link) that center Owen Beck has been assigned to AHL Laval. The 20-year-old was recalled on Sunday and played in Montreal’s last two games, playing just over 15 minutes combined.  Beck is off to a solid start to his professional career in the minors, collecting 25 points in 37 games with the Rocket this season.  No corresponding recall is expected before their game in Detroit on Thursday.
  • Originally believed to be out day-to-day with an upper-body injury sustained versus Montreal on the weekend, Maple Leafs winger Max Pacioretty is now expected to miss more time. Head coach Craig Berube told reporters including Nick Barden of The Hockey News (Twitter link) that the veteran is now expected to be out “probably a little bit longer” than day-to-day.  Pacioretty has dealt with multiple injuries this season but has still suited up in 32 games this season, picking up five goals and seven assists.  He was placed on IR earlier today but it now appears that he’ll be out longer than the required seven days.

Flyers Reassign Aleksei Kolosov, Olle Lycksell; Recall Anthony Richard

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The Philadelphia Flyers will no longer carry three goaltenders on their roster. The team announced that they have reassigned goaltender Aleksei Kolosov and forward Olle Lycksell to their AHL affiliate, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. In a corresponding move, they recalled forward Anthony Richard.

Goaltending has been an issue for the Flyers this year. The team is currently in last place in the NHL, with a save percentage of only .874, and has had difficulty maintaining consistency in net for much of the season.

Since the start of 2025, the narrative has shifted. Samuel Ersson has emerged as the primary goaltender, boasting a 5-1-0 record in six starts and a .920 save percentage since New Year’s. Meanwhile, Kolosov, who hasn’t played for the Flyers since January 2nd, has become the odd man out, especially since he is exempt from waivers.

The demotion appears to be a prudent move for the young netminder. Since finally joining the Flyers organization last season, Kolosov has earned a 2-3-1 record in six AHL games with a .878 SV% and 3.20 goals-against average. Given his similar production in the NHL, it might be time for Kolosov to get more consistent starts to build up his confidence.

In the less noteworthy part of the transaction — Lycksell returns to AHL Lehigh Valley after going scoreless in five straight games in Philadelphia. He’s understandably been much more productive with the Phantoms scoring nine goals and 24 points in 25 games this season.

The Flyers have decided to rely on Richard’s more readily available talent. Although he hasn’t played in Philadelphia since mid to late November, he was one of the team’s highest-scoring players during that stretch. In his previous call-up from November 7 to November 20, Richard scored two goals and recorded six points in seven games, with five coming at even strength.

Carolina Hurricanes Recall Riley Stillman

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Before tomorrow’s intra-division game against the Columbus Blue Jackets, the Carolina Hurricanes added some depth to their blue line. The Hurricanes announced they’ve recalled defenseman Riley Stillman from their AHL affiliate, the Chicago Wolves.

Stillman lost the first month of the 2024-25 NHL season to a lower-body injury and was finally activated from the injured non-roster list on November 12th. Since clearing waivers the next day, the seven-year veteran has received five call-ups by Carolina this year.

He’s been a stable presence on AHL Chicago’s blue line this season. Although he’s only scored two goals and five points in 15 contests, that’s only one point shy of his 47-game output from last season. Aside from his mild offensive production, Stillman has a -2 rating on the year and is sixth on the team in PIMs.

Although the Hurricanes face several injuries to their forwards, the team’s blue line is not currently affected. That makes Stillman’s recall more peculiar, given that a home game against the Blue Jackets wouldn’t require additional depth.

Another noteworthy aspect of Stillman’s recall is the selection of him over defenseman Ty Smith. Smith cleared waivers 10 days ago and has only spent a few days on the roster since. That gives Carolina nearly a month of Smith with complete flexibility but they’ve chosen to have him remain in AHL Chicago for the time being.

Paper Transactions: 1/22/25

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According to a team announcement, the Colorado Avalanche have recalled forwards Ivan Ivan and Jere Innala to the NHL roster. The transaction marks the 10th time this year Ivan has been promoted to the Avalanche and the fifth time for Innala.

Even though he’s been formally reassigned to their AHL affiliate, the Colorado Eagles, nine times, Ivan has only suited up in two AHL contests this season. Most of his playing time has come with the Avalanche, where he’s scored five goals and eight points in 39 games, averaging 10:09 of ice time per game. Ivan hasn’t been without value for the Avalanche this season, sitting 13th out of all 25 forwards used by Colorado this season in CorsiFor% (51.6%) while starting 67.3% of his shifts in the defensive zone.

The same can’t be said for Innala. He’s been a physical presence in Colorado’s bottom six this season over 14 games but has yet to tally his first NHL point. He ranks 23rd of all forwards used in CorsiFor% with a 45.1% mark. Innala will likely have a full-time role in the AHL carved out by the end of the season should the Avalanche add to their forward depth at the trade deadline.

Additional paper transactions:

  • The Tampa Bay Lightning have again reassigned defenseman Maxwell Crozier to their AHL affiliate, the Syracuse Crunch. Crozier has been filling in for the injured Erik Černák, managing a +1 rating in the last three games while averaging 17:06 of ice time per game. Remarkably, thanks to a consistently healthy roster, Crozier is only the eighth defenseman to play more than two games for the Lightning this season.
  • Finishing off the list of paper transactions are the Dallas Stars, who have reassigned forward Matěj Blümel to their AHL affiliate, the Texas Stars. It is the fifth time Blümel has been reassigned to AHL Texas in a season where he’s scored one goal in seven NHL contests. Since he’ll be 25 and won’t hit 80 career games by the end of the season, Blümel will become a ’Group 6’ unrestricted free agent at the end of the year.

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