During last week's NHL board of governors meetings, league commissioner Gary Bettman projected next season's salary cap could rise to around $83 million. That would be an increase of $3.5 million over the current $79.5 million ceiling.
It's also good news for teams with young stars completing their entry-level contracts this season. Some of those clubs will need every extra penny they can find.
It could cost the Toronto Maple Leafs a combined $22-million annually to sign forwards Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner. Despite missing a month with a shoulder injury, Matthews is on a 100-point pace. Marner, meanwhile, sits among the league's top-10 scorers with 40 points in just 30 games.
The Winnipeg Jets could be shelling out up to $20 million for sniper Patrik Laine and sophomore winger Kyle Connor. Laine is on track for 60 goals this season while Connor could reach 70 points.
Seattle? Yay; Quebec City? Nay
The NHL board of governors also formally approved awarding an expansion franchise to an ownership group in Seattle. The as-yet unnamed team will debut in the 2021-22 season.
Seattle has a long hockey history stretching back to the Seattle Metropolitans of the old Pacific Coast Hockey League winning the Stanley Cup in 1917. For decades, it's been the home of minor pro and junior hockey franchises.
The move puts the NHL into the growing American Pacific Northwest market, providing a natural rival for the Vancouver Canucks.
Sadly, it also means Quebec City's hopes of resurrecting the Nordiques remain dim.
Despite being a former NHL market with a passionate fan base, possessing a new 18,000 state-of-the art arena, and benefitting a wealthy potential owner in media giant Quebecor, the league passed them over in favour of two American cities. Their market is simply too small to compete with the potential revenues to be made from larger American cities.
Quebec City's best bet for landing an NHL franchise is to stay patient and hope the league will view them as a viable destination for relocating a struggling team. That's how Winnipeg returned to the NHL ranks in 2011.
Sprong just ducky in Anaheim
Daniel Sprong's disappointing tenure with the Pittsburgh Penguins ended last Tuesday. The former Charlottetown Islanders winger was dealt to the Anaheim Ducks for defenceman Marcus Pettersson.
Projected as a scoring forward, the 21-year-old Sprong struggled to crack the Penguins' roster. Managing just nine points in 42 games with Pittsburgh, he frequently saw fourth-line duty with the Penguins when he wasn't a healthy scratch.
He'll get a better opportunity to become a top-six winger with the Ducks, who are in need of youth and speed up front.
Sprong wasted little time making a good initial impression with his new club. He scored scoring a goal in his first game with the Ducks and two games later tallied during a shootout round.
Lyle Richardson is a freelance writer with Sporting News and runs the website Spector’s Hockey. His column will appear in The Guardian throughout the NHL hockey season.
