The NHL salary cap has entered a new phase of skyrocketing growth after years of relatively flat movement during the pandemic era.
We saw a $7.5 million increase to a $95.5 million cap ceiling for 2025-26, with the league projecting a $104 million ceiling for 2026-27 and a $113.5 million figure by 2027-28. If those numbers hold, the NHL will be looking at a near 40 percent growth of the cap in less than five years.
Player salaries, of course, are jumping accordingly. Superstars — with the exception of Connor McDavid’s massively team-friendly deal — are hitting new heights on contracts. Blue-chip restricted free agents coming off their entry-level contracts are commanding significant salaries faster than ever, even if they have very little big-league experience.
One downstream effect is that many long-term contracts signed in the flat-cap era are quickly becoming massive bargains. If you’re a team fortunate enough to already have most of your core players locked up to favorable deals for several years to come, you’re going to be in an excellent cap situation, because some teams have multiple star players that will command huge raises on contracts that expire just as the cap and player salaries are growing significantly.
Today, I wanted to examine which teams have the most talent already signed to favorable long-term contracts. This isn’t a prediction for which teams will necessarily have the most playoff success because some teams that are not on this list (eg: the Dallas Stars because of Thomas Harley and Jason Robertson’s upcoming deals and the Colorado Avalanche with Martin Necas and Cale Makar’s) will still be perennial Stanley Cup contenders.
Without further ado, let’s dive in.
Florida Panthers
2026 notable free agents: Sergei Bobrovsky, UFA ($10 million AAV), Mackie Samoskevich, RFA ($775,000 AAV)
2027 notable free agents: Eetu Luostarinen, UFA ($3 million AAV), Evan Rodrigues, UFA ($3 million AAV)
The Panthers have the most cost-controlled talent in the league, and it’s not even close. Florida has seven of its top forwards and all of its top-four defenders signed for at least five years or longer. The cherry on top is that these aren’t just market-value contracts; most of them were already bargains the moment they were signed. Imagine how ridiculously team-friendly those deals will look as the cap continues to rise.
Sam Reinhart, for example, has scored the second-most goals in the NHL since the 2023-24 season, behind only Auston Matthews. Despite that, he’s only going to carry an $8.625 million cap hit for the next seven years.
Gustav Forsling is a high-end No. 1 defenseman. His $5.75 million cap hit, however, is probably going to look like No. 4 defenseman money by the time his deal expires in seven years. Aaron Ekblad could have easily made way more than $6.1 million if he had decided to hit the open market last summer. Seth Jones’ on-ice numbers weren’t pretty in Chicago because he was asked to do too much as the No. 1 on a terrible team, but he’s been a two-way stud since arriving in Florida. With the Blackhawks retaining $2.5 million of his original contract per year, Jones’ $7 million AAV for the Panthers is already a team-friendly number.
Aleksander Barkov and Matthew Tkachuk are legitimate superstars with deals that look better each day. Anton Lundell, who would be a top-six center on almost every team in the league, is only improving and will make his $5 million AAV look laughably low.
With all of these stars committed and no significant raises due besides Mackie Samoskevich next summer (Sergei Bobrovsky’s next deal won’t be more than his current $10 million cap hit), the Panthers’ cap flexibility is going to increase each year. Couple that with how attractive Florida is as a destination for players because of its state tax situation, winning environment and palm trees, and you’ve got an organization that’s going to have the financial wiggle room to keep adding to an already-stacked core in future years.
Carolina Hurricanes
Player
Cap Hit
Years Left
$7.42M
7
$6.39M
8
$9.75M
7
$6M
9 (extension kicks in next season)
$7.5M
8
$5.1M
9 (extension kicks in next season)
$8.5M
6
$7.75M
4
$3.6M
4
$3.17M
3
2026 notable free agents: Alexander Nikishin, RFA ($925,000)
2027 notable free agents: Jalen Chatfield, UFA ($3 million)
Carolina is one of the most aggressive teams in the league at proactively locking up its young, high-upside talent to long-term contract extensions.
This past summer, the Hurricanes signed Logan Stankoven and Jackson Blake to eight-year contracts, even though they both had a full season remaining on their entry-level contracts. Some organizations would be hesitant to commit all that guaranteed money to a couple of players with only around 100 games of NHL experience each. However, the risk-to-reward equation made this a no-brainer for the Hurricanes to pursue.
Blake and Stankoven’s cap hits are in the $5-6 million range. By the midway point of their contracts, that’s going to be third-line money. In other words, even if both were to completely stagnate — which seems unlikely considering their age, pedigree and dynamic skill sets — they will comfortably be worth their contracts. And if they break out at all? Well, then that’s going to net the Canes some tremendous surplus value.
Carolina’s three franchise pillars of Seth Jarvis, Sebastian Aho and Jaccob Slavin are all signed for at least the next seven years. Slavin is the best shutdown defenseman in the league and earns under $6.5 million annually. Jarvis is a budding superstar with one of the best contracts in the league, and Aho is a franchise center with a sub-$10 million cap hit.
Additionally, the Hurricanes have several key depth players who are also cost-controlled. Alexander Nikishin, Carolina’s stud rookie defender, is the only player who needs a significant raise over the next two years. That won’t be a problem, either, because the Hurricanes already entered this season with nearly $10 million in cap space.
Montreal Canadiens
Player
Cap Hit
Years Left
$8.85M
9 (extension doesn’t kick in until next season)
$7.875M
5
$7.85M
6
$7.6M
8
$5.55M
6
$9.5M
8
2026 notable free agents: Zack Bolduc, RFA ($863,334)
2027 notable free agents: Ivan Demidov, RFA ($940,833), Oliver Kapanen, RFA ($925,000), Alex Newhook, RFA ($2.9 million)
The Canadiens may not have the largest number of players signed to long-term contracts. However, the pedigree and star power of the players they do have locked up, combined with the impeccable value of the contracts themselves, warrant their inclusion on this list.
Lane Hutson’s recent contract extension was GM Kent Hughes’ latest masterclass. Hutson is already a star at 21 and could easily become a top-five defenseman in the league once he hits his prime. Having a talent like that under contract until 2034 at a cap hit below $9 million almost seems like a magic trick by Montreal’s front office. Nick Suzuki, meanwhile, is in the middle of breaking out as one of the game’s top centers. What a luxury it is to have him and Cole Caufield both under $8 million each long-term.
Yes, the Canadiens will need to hand Ivan Demidov and Zack Bolduc lucrative raises over the next couple of years as their respective entry-level contracts expire. However, that’s offset by the $20.7 million in extra cap room that will be freed up as Patrik Laine (2026), Brendan Gallagher (2027), and Josh Anderson’s (2027) overpriced contracts expire within the next two seasons.
Tampa Bay Lightning
2026 notable free agents: Oliver Bjorkstrand, UFA ($5.4 million), Ryan McDonagh ($6.75 million)
2027 notable free agents: Nikita Kucherov, UFA ($9.5 million)
After years of delicate cap gymnastics, the Lightning are on the verge of finally having spending power to go along with their bevy of team-friendly long-term deals.
There isn’t a single player on this roster with a $10 million or higher cap hit. Brandon Hagel’s $6.5 million AAV contract is one of the best in the NHL, while Brayden Point, Jake Guentzel, Anthony Cirelli and Nick Paul should also provide excellent bang-for-buck.
GM Julien BriseBois is projected to enter next offseason with over $25 million in cap space and with 13 forwards, four defensemen, and both goaltenders already locked up. That’s a ton of room to add talent, even if you account for possibly bringing Bjorkstrand and McDonagh back. That cap space could be a serious weapon next summer, considering how attractive Tampa Bay is to players as a destination.
Kucherov will need a new deal in 2027, but he’ll be 34 at the time and is already the team’s highest-paid player — his next deal will be more expensive, but it isn’t going to disrupt the team’s cap structure.
Of course, this isn’t to say that everything is perfect in Tampa right now. The Lightning are off to a terrible start, there are legitimate concerns on the blue line and their core is aging.
However, we see a couple of Stanley Cup contenders struggle out of the gate every year, and in the overwhelming majority of cases, they usually figure it out. Kucherov will heat up from his pedestrian start, Hagel isn’t going to stay at a one-point-per-six-games clip for the whole season, and Andrei Vasilevskiy will likely shake off the rust from missing parts of training camp and return to being the elite goalie he was last year.
The Lightning could feasibly remain legitimate contenders for the next couple of years if Brisebois can effectively leverage his upcoming cap flexibility.
Winnipeg Jets
Player
Cap Hit
Years Left
$8.5M
6
$6.25M
3
$8.5M
6
$12M
9 (extension kicks in next season)
$5.75M
3
$7.5M
6
$7M
6
$4.9M
3
2026 notable free agents: Cole Perfetti, RFA ($3.25 million), Adam Lowry, UFA ($3.25 million)
2027 notable free agents: Nino Niederreiter, UFA ($4 million)
Winnipeg has a uniquely promising three-year window to contend for a Stanley Cup. In this time frame, the Jets have all four of their top-four defensemen, their three best forwards and their superstar goaltender all under contract.
It’s remarkable that Josh Morrissey, a top-10 defenseman in the NHL, and Dylan Samberg, who’s wildly underrated as an elite shutdown defenseman, will only cost a combined $12 million against the cap for the next three seasons. The Jets are also blessed to have six more years of Connor Hellebuyck and Mark Scheifele at a discount with cap hits of $8.5 million apiece. Kyle Connor’s recent $12 million AAV extension was also a huge win for the organization.
The Jets are currently spending to the cap, but as a small-market team, there’s no guarantee that will be the case in a few years once the cap ceiling has skyrocketed past $100 million. With that in mind, the cost certainty of having nearly all your top players signed long-term to good contracts is massive.
Honorable mentions
New Jersey Devils: Having Jack Hughes and Jesper Bratt on the books at under $16 million combined is an excellent advantage. It’s also lovely that Luke Hughes, Brett Pesce, Jonas Siegenthaler and Johnathan Kovacevic are cost-controlled on the back end.
This is a fantastic starting point, but they just missed on cracking the main list for a couple of reasons: Nico Hischier is going to command a monster deal in two years, and I’m not a big fan of Dougie Hamilton’s contract (three years left at $9 million AAV). Arseni Gritsyuk will also need a significant raise from his entry-level contract at the end of this season if he keeps producing as well.
Edmonton Oilers: Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Zach Hyman, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Evan Bouchard, Jake Walman and Mattias Ekholm are all cost-controlled through at least the 2027-28 season. That’s amazing, though Edmonton’s long-term cap picture isn’t perfect.
Darnell Nurse’s contract ($9.25 million for another five years) is an albatross, and Trent Frederic’s deal isn’t great either. The Oilers don’t have a goalie signed past this season. McDavid’s future beyond his current deal will be a question mark, considering Edmonton’s aging supporting cast, and Bouchard appears to have intentionally positioned himself for another mega deal in four years.
Vegas Golden Knights: Vegas has its two best forwards (Jack Eichel and Mitch Marner) and its five best defensemen all under contract for a long time. The Golden Knights also have some of their secondary forwards (Ivan Barbashev, Brett Howden, Keegan Kolesar) signed to nice deals.
That’s a great starting point, though it’s worth remembering that Eichel and Marner’s deals are closer to market value than massive discounts because they were only recently signed. Pavel Dorofeyev is a pending RFA and will need an enormous lift from his current $1.835 million AAV, as he scored 35 goals last year and has already racked up seven goals in his first seven games.