The National Hockey League confirmed some details about the forthcoming 2024-25 season ahead of Game 1 of the 2024 Stanley Cup Final between the Edmonton Oilers and Florida Panthers on Saturday.
Most importantly, the league confirmed that the 2024-25 salary cap will be set at an even $88 million, representing a significant increase from the 2023-24 season limit of $83.5 million.
As CapFriendly confirmed on Saturday, the salary floor has been set at $65 million, with the midpoint sitting at $76.5 million. Of course, the league’s unrestricted free agency period is slated to kick off on July 1.
The extra $4.5 million under the salary cap this year will give the Vancouver Canucks more flexibility to absorb Elias Pettersson’s new $11.6 million cap hit (up from $7.35 million previously) while also handing out new contracts to Filip Hronek, Arturs Silovs, and potentially UFAs Elias Lindholm, Nikita Zadorov, and Dakota Joshua.
Salary Cap ceiling for next season will be $88.0M
Midpoint: $76.5M
Floor: $65.0M
— CapFriendly (@CapFriendly) June 8, 2024
Furthermore, the NHL confirmed that it will hold a mini international tournament midway through the 2024-25 season called the NHL 4 Nations Face-Off.
The tournament will run from February 12 to 20 in 2025 and will involve four national teams made up of NHL players from Canada, the United States, Sweden, and Finland. It’ll mark the first time NHL players have participated in a major best-on-best event since the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.
The NHL also revealed the full slate of games for the 4 Nations Face-Off on Saturday and confirmed that the games will be held at the Bell Centre in Montreal and the TD Garden in Boston. All games will be broadcast across Canada on Sportsnet; the marquee matchup between Team Canada and Team USA will take place in Montreal on February 15.
Full schedule for 4 Nations Face-Off: pic.twitter.com/XsEccgca3R
— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) June 8, 2024
Later on Saturday, the Panthers defeated the Oilers by a 3-0 score in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final at Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise, Florida. Carter Verhaeghe, Evan Rodrigues, and Eetu Luostarinen all scored for the Panthers, while Sergei Bobrovsky stopped all 33 shots he faced in the Game 1 shutout.
The Oilers have now trailed in three consecutive series, although they rallied to win the last two (including the second round against the Canucks). The two teams will reconvene for Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final on Monday at 5:00 p.m. PT.
