The salary cap flows directly from Hockey Related Revenue (HRR) — gate receipts, broadcast rights, sponsorships, licensing, digital and betting revenues. Players are entitled to exactly 50% of HRR as the "Players' Share." Each season the league withholds escrow from player paychecks; at year end, if total player compensation exceeded 50% of HRR, escrow goes to the league — if it fell short, players get it back. The Upper Limit is set each summer from projected HRR divided across the 32 clubs. Every club must also spend at least the Lower Limit (the floor).
A player's cap hit is the total value of his contract (salary + signing bonuses) divided by its length in years — constant every season regardless of how the actual dollars are distributed. A 7-year, $70M deal carries a $10M cap hit even if $20M is paid in year one. Front-loading with signing bonuses remains legal, but the 2025 MOU eliminated deferred compensation in new contracts.
LTIR gives cap relief when a player will miss at least 10 games and 24 days. The club's effective ceiling rises by up to the injured player's cap hit (the "LTIR pool"). The 2025 MOU closed the famous playoff loophole:
• If the player is expected to return during the season, relief is capped at the prior season's
Average League Salary (~$3.82M).
• Full relief is only available if the player is declared unfit for the remainder of the regular season
AND the playoffs.
• Teams also sometimes retroactively date IR/LTIR placements — the placement date, not the announcement
date, drives the daily cap accounting.
For the first time, playoff rosters must be cap-compliant: the 20 players dressed for each playoff game must fit under the Upper Limit, dead-cap charges included. A team's full roster may exceed the cap, but each game's lineup cannot. This ended the era of activating big LTIR contracts for the playoffs.
For contracts signed after September 16, 2026, the maximum term is 7 years re-signing with your own club, 6 years with a new club (down from 8/7). The league minimum salary rises each season: $850K (2026-27), $900K (2027-28), $950K (2028-29), $1M (2029-30). The maximum salary is 20% of the Upper Limit ($20.8M in 2026-27). Entry-level deals carry compensation caps with limited signing and performance bonuses; performance-bonus overages that exceed a team's cap room roll into the following season's cap as an overage charge.
The CBA sorts every player into a "Group" that determines his rights when his contract expires. Two definitions drive everything: an Accrued Season is a league year in which a player was on an NHL active roster for 40+ regular-season games (30+ for goalies) — games missed to hockey injury count in the injury year and one season after — and the League Year runs July 1 through June 30, which is why free agency opens at 12:00 PM ET on July 1.
| Group | Who | Status at Contract Expiry |
|---|---|---|
| Group 1 | Entry-level player (ELS). Duration set by first signing age: 18–21 = 3 years, 22–23 = 2 years, 24 = 1 year, 25+ = no ELS. | Under club control; no negotiating rights with other clubs. |
| Group 2 | Restricted Free Agent — out of the ELS but short of UFA criteria. | Club retains rights via Qualifying Offer; subject to offer sheets and (if eligible) arbitration. |
| Group 3 | Standard UFA: 7+ accrued seasons OR age 27+ as of June 30. | Completely free — no compensation, no right of first refusal. |
| Group 4 | "Defected player" — under NHL contract but playing in an unaffiliated league. | Can reach UFA status only under specific defection provisions. |
| Group 5 | Veteran: 10+ professional seasons whose final contract-year salary did not exceed the Average League Salary. | May elect UFA status once in a career, by July 10. |
| Group 6 | Age 25+, 3+ professional seasons, but fewer than 80 NHL games (skaters) or 28 (goalies). | Automatically a UFA when the contract expires. |
Group 3 — the standard route. Seven accrued seasons or age 27 by June 30 makes a player completely free: any club may sign him from noon ET on July 1, with no compensation owed to his former team.
Group 5 — the veteran election. A player with ten or more professional seasons whose final contract-year salary was at or below the Average League Salary may elect UFA status — once in his career, by July 10. It exists for long-serving depth players who would otherwise remain restricted.
Group 6 — the limited-service UFA. A player who is 25 or older with three or more professional seasons but limited NHL service (under 80 NHL games for skaters, under 28 for goalies) becomes a UFA automatically at contract expiry — no election needed. These are the "AHL lifers" and late bloomers, and they are often overlooked value: a club can sign an experienced 25-year-old organizational player with no strings attached.
Draft-related UFA. A player not on any club's reserve list and no longer eligible for the entry draft may sign as a free agent, though entry-level compensation limits still apply if he is ELS-age.
An RFA's contract has expired, but his club keeps his rights by tendering a Qualifying Offer — a one-year contract offer at a CBA-mandated minimum amount — by the later of June 25 or the Monday after the Entry Draft. The 2025 MOU substantially raised the QO scale (previously $660K/$1M):
| Prior Year Salary | Minimum Qualifying Offer |
|---|---|
| $1,250,000 or less | 110% of prior salary |
| $1,250,001 – $1,749,999 | 105% of prior salary (capped at $1,750,000) |
| $1,750,000 or more | 100% of prior salary |
One-way vs two-way. The QO must be one-way (full NHL salary even if assigned to the minors) when the player meets all three tests: 180+ NHL games over the previous three seasons, 60+ NHL games in the previous season, and no waiver clearance during the prior season's waiver period. Otherwise the club may qualify him on a two-way basis. For goalies, dressing as the backup counts as a game played for these tests.
Miss the deadline, lose the player. If the club neither tenders a timely QO nor elects club arbitration, the player immediately becomes an unrestricted free agent — there is no cure period. A tendered QO that goes unsigned expires at 5:00 PM ET on July 15 (or a later date the club sets), after which the club loses its right of first refusal but the player remains an RFA. Unsigned RFAs carry a $0 cap hit — which is why they appear at $0 on our team pages.
Any club may sign another club's qualified RFA to an offer sheet — a proposed contract the player accepts, which the current club then has 7 days to match. Matching binds the player to identical terms with his current club (the right of first refusal). Declining to match means the current club receives draft-pick compensation from the signing club, scaled to the offer's AAV. A player who has elected salary arbitration cannot sign an offer sheet, and a player who signs one loses arbitration eligibility.
| Offer Sheet AAV | Compensation to Prior Club |
|---|---|
| $1,299,999 or less | None |
| $1,300,000 – $2,099,999 | 3rd round pick |
| $2,100,000 – $3,499,999 | 2nd round pick |
| $3,500,000 – $5,249,999 | 1st + 3rd round picks |
| $5,250,000 – $6,999,999 | 1st + 2nd + 3rd round picks |
| $7,000,000 – $8,399,999 | Two 1sts + 2nd + 3rd round picks |
| $8,400,000 or more | Four 1st round picks |
Arbitration eligibility splits Group 2 RFAs into two practical classes — those with leverage and those without. Eligibility depends on the age at which the player signed his first contract: signed at 18–20, four years of professional experience required; at 21, three years; at 22–23, two years; at 24 or older, one year. An eligible RFA may file by July 5 (5:00 PM ET); a club may also elect arbitration in limited circumstances — but only once per player's career, and no more than twice per club per league year. The full arbitration process is covered in the Salary Arbitration section below.
Most players with NHL experience must clear waivers before being sent to the minors. Non-roster players don't count against the cap up to a burying threshold — cap hits above it leave a buried charge. The 2025 MOU tightened roster mechanics: maximum 5 regular recalls from affiliated minors, no more than 4 recalled players on the active roster at once, and paper loans are closed — a loaned player must actually report and play a game before he can be recalled.
Clubs may buy out contracts (ordinary-course buyouts pay 1/3 or 2/3 of remaining salary spread over twice the remaining term, leaving a multi-year cap charge). In trades, a club may retain up to 50% of a contract's cap hit, with a maximum of 3 retained-salary contracts at a time and an aggregate retention limit. Buyouts, retained salary, buried contracts and bonus overages together form a team's dead cap — money counting against the ceiling for players not on the roster.
Eligible RFAs (by age and professional experience) may elect salary arbitration — or clubs may elect it defensively. An arbitrator sets a 1- or 2-year award after a hearing (the hearing period now begins August 1). Clubs have limited walk-away rights on awards above a threshold. Arbitration timing frequently drives July signing dynamics.
• 84-game regular season, pre-season capped at 4 games (from 2026-27)
• Professional EBUGs — each team employs its own emergency backup goalie who travels with the team
• ELS caps auto-adjust with the rising minimum salary; European age-25-27 ELC rule deleted
• Escrow-setting process revised to reduce volatility
• Player Fund grows to $34-40M per season (2026-27 through 2029-30)
• Contracts guaranteed on hockey-related-injury death; expanded bonus eligibility for injured veterans (400+ games, 100+ IR days)