Salary Cap Projections Put Red Wings in Enviable Position
With the NHL projecting out the next three seasons worth of salary cap figures, the Red Wings are in the enviable position of having locked in their stars to long-term, high-value deals
On Friday, the NHL and NHLPA revealed projections for the salary cap over the next three seasons.
Next season (2025–26), the cap is poised to leap to $95.5 million (from its current $88 million), a jump of $7.5 million that would constitute the biggest single-year climb since the NHL introduced a salary cap in 2005-06. For 2026-27, the cap is slated to climb to $104 million, before leaping again to $113.5 million for 2027–28.
Those increases come together to formally bring the league's post-COVID stagnation to an end, instead offering teams and general managers ample room to add salary for the first time in a long time.
Of course, every team will benefit from the increased freedom and flexibility, but the Red Wings are uniquely positioned to take advantage of the cap spike. Detroit's three franchise pillars are all locked into long-term deals that already looked like strong value before these projected increases, a sense that is now set to double down.
Captain Dylan Larkin is signed to a contract worth $8.7 million annually against the cap through 2030-31. Lucas Raymond's deal pays him $8.075 million annually through 2031-32. Moritz Seider's $8.55 million AAV runs through '30-'31 as well. Those three deals represent great value on what Detroit hopes will be the backbone of a contending team over the life of those deals.
Youngsters like Simon Edvinsson and Marco Kasper will graduate from their entry-level deals after the '25-26 season and '26-'27 season respectively, but even with raises for those two, the Red Wings should have ample room with which to supplement the existing core.
When you put it all together, Detroit will likely have the chance to add premier players as they come available, whether a disgruntled superstar like JT Miller (traded from Vancouver to the Rangers Friday evening) or one like Mikko Rantanen (traded from Colorado to Carolina) who has played his way into an extension his former team can now longer afford.
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