After years of speculation, the NHL salary cap is finally set to take a massive leap forward over the next couple years. Insiders have reported the cap will rise considerably in each of the next three seasons, landing right around $113.5m for the 2027–28 season.
If the cap does increase this much by 2028, it will have gigantic ramifications on the NHL and every team in the league. If they’re smart, NHL teams should be planning ahead for these changes starting this summer. In the Calgary Flames case, the increased room could have a big impact on how the team continues to alter their roster leading up to Scotia Place opening in 2027.
Flames salary cap outlook
| Season | Projected Salary Cap | Current Cap Spent | Current Cap Space | Key Players Needing New Contracts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025–26 | $95.5M | $59.14M | $36.36M | Zary, Coronato, Frost, Bahl |
| 2026–27 | $104M | $40.59M | $63.41M | Backlund, Pospisil, Andersson, Wolf |
| 2027–28 | $113.5M | $34.5M | $79M | N/A |
At first glance, it’s eye-catching just how much cap flexibility the Flames currently have over the next few years. After years of paying buyouts, sitting on bad contracts, and scratching and clawing for every cent, the team has set themselves up perfectly to have a ton of room to improve the roster. The key now is to not screw it up. As we all know, cap space can go quickly if you start making poor decisions.
This summer in particular will be a huge one for the Flames, with Zary, Coronato, Frost and Bahl all needing new deals. With $36M in cap available, the Flames are going to have plenty of room to sign this group to long-term deals instead of bridging them. If the Flames are smart, they’ll utilize that space this summer to ensure they don’t go through the Frolik and Tkachuk situation all over again.
Cap situation on future years
Looking ahead to the 2026–27 season, the organization has another big summer ahead of them with both Wolf and Andersson needing new deals. Wolf will obviously be re-signed, but how the team decides to proceed with Andersson will have a big-time impact on their future spending. Andersson will very likely command at least $8M on his next deal, meaning the team will have even more room to work with if they trade him instead of sign him.
Leading up to the 2027–28 season and the first-ever season at Scotia Place, the Flames don’t have a single notable player on their roster on an expiring deal at the moment. Add on the fact the cap is expected to jump to $113.5M that season, and we could be looking at a franchise-altering summer in 2027. For no apparent reason, superstar defenceman and hometown kid Cale Makar is currently slated to be a free agent that same season. Carry on.
Not so bad after all
Another major impact of the rising salary cap is the impact it will have on the Flames’ current bloated contracts. Looking at you, Jonathan Huberdeau. Currently counting for $10.5M against the salary cap, Huberdeau takes up a whopping 11.9% of the Flames cap space. That’s an absolutely gigantic amount to have tied up in one player, let alone a 60-point one. However, with how much the cap is set to rise, the impact Huberdeau’s bloated deal will have on the Flames and how they construct their roster will be much lower.
Next year with the cap rising to $95.5M, Huberdeau will take up 10.9% of the salary cap. In 2026–27 he will take up 10% of the cap. In 2027–28, that percentage will drop all the way down to 9.2%. For context, 9.2% of the salary cap this season is equivalent to a player making right around $8M AAV. That is a much more palatable amount than the current gigantic 11.9% Huberdeau is currently occupying.
The push to extend talent now
The Flames don’t have a great history when it comes to locking up young talent long-term. This of course isn’t news to anyone, but now more than ever the organization needs to make sure they don’t make the same mistake again. With a rising cap expected to increase by nearly $20M by 2027, the Flames need to act now and lock up their young expiring talent before it’s too late. Below are some notable players due to see their contracts expire before the 2026–27 season.
| Player | Current Age | Current AAV | Contract Expiry |
|---|---|---|---|
| Connor Zary | 23 | $925,000 | 2025 (RFA) |
| Matt Coronato | 22 | $863,000 | 2025 (RFA) |
| Kevin Bahl | 24 | $1,050,000 | 2025 (RFA) |
| Morgan Frost | 25 | $2,100,000 | 2025 (RFA) |
| Dustin Wolf | 23 | $850,000 | 2026 (RFA) |
Those are some incredibly important players due to expire over the next two years, including the teams two best young forwards, their youngest top-four defenceman, and their franchise goaltender. How the team handles the above contracts will have massive impacts on the future of this team in 2027 and beyond.
Not that the team needed any further push to lock up the above group to long-term deals, but the rising cap gives them even more incentive to. The ask from all four of those players, in particular Wolf could shift dramatically from now to two years from now when the cap is nearly $20M higher.
Getting Wolf signed
For example, the highest-paid goaltender in the NHL this season is Sergei Bobrosvky who counts $10M against the cap. His current AAV accounts for right around 11.4% of a team’s cap. Next year that percentage will drop to 10.5%. By 2027–28 it will account for just 8.8% of the cap. It’s widely known that a percentage of the salary cap is often used in contract negotiations, meaning teams will be at a huge disadvantage in contract talks as the cap continues to rise.
For that reason, the Flames need to look at locking up their young talent sooner rather than later, while they can still pay them at today’s going rate instead of waiting until that amount is much higher in 2026 and 2027. For example, if the Flames were to offer Dustin Wolf a deal that would pay him around $7M AAV, that’d be worth around 8% of today’s salary cap, but just 6.7% of the cap in 2026–27 when the contract would start. In 2027–28 it’d be worth just 6.1%.
Another way to look at is what the equivalent contract would be in today’s dollars versus the coming years. For example an AAV of $7M in 2026–27 would be equivalent to $5.9M this year. In 2027–28 it would be equivalent to just $5.4M this year. In other words, an overpay now will very likely seem like an underpay in the coming years.
If the team decides to bridge Wolf and the other names above instead and kick their long-term contracts down the road by a couple years, they’d be walking into a nightmare scenario. By the time their bridge deals will be expiring, the salary cap will have already rose dramatically, the players will be entering their prime, and they’ll be looking for gigantic paydays compared to what you could pay them right now.
A chance to get ahead
NHL teams that lock up their young cornerstone talent now instead of waiting a year or two will be at a huge advantage once the cap rises to $113.5M in 2027–28. Teams with high-end talent locked up for the next five to eight years will give themselves a huge advantage when it comes to roster construction compared to teams who will need to hand out extensions over the next three years.
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