NEW YORK - The NHL's salary cap is on the rise for a fourth consecutive season.

Each team will have a maximum of US$56.7 million to spend for the 2008-09 season, both the NHL and NHL Players' Association announced Thursday. It's up $6.4 million from last season.

The floor also rose $6.4 million to $40.7 million, the minimum each of the 30 teams must spend on player salaries.

The most an NHL player can earn in a new contract next season is $11.34 million a year.

Next season's floor is higher than the $39-million salary cap the NHL had coming out of the lockout in 2005-06. The salary cap rose to $44 million for 2006-07 and to $50.3 million last season.