A Look At The NHL Salary Cap Rules For The 2026-27 Season

Yahoo SportsYesterday3 min readOriginal source →

TL;DR

The NHL has set the salary cap for the 2026-27 season with a lower limit of $76.9 million and an upper limit of $104 million. The highest cap hit for a player will be $20.8 million, with Kirill Kaprizov leading at an AAV of $17 million.

Key points

NHL salary cap lower limit is $76.9 million
NHL salary cap upper limit is $104 million
Highest cap hit for a player is $20.8 million
Kirill Kaprizov has the highest AAV at $17 million
Vancouver Canucks have $21,559,167 in cap space

Vancouver CanucksKirill Kaprizov

The NHL and NHLPA have announced the salary cap rules for the 2026-27 season. The lower limit will be $76.9 million, which is an increase from $70.6 million. As for the upper limit, that will increase from $95.5 million to $104 million.

The cap growth aligns with the statement the NHL released back on January 31, 2025. In addition to the new cap floor and ceiling, the highest cap hit a player can carry for the 2026-27 season is $20.8 million. As of writing, Minnesota Wild winger Kirill Kaprizov will have the highest AAV for the 2026-27 campaign at $17 million.

As for the Vancouver Canucks, they are projected to be well below the cap ceiling. According to PuckPedia, Vancouver has $21,559,167 of cap space heading into the 2026 off-season. There are also no big restricted or unrestricted free agents that need to be signed, which means the Canucks could go into next season with a cap hit under 90 million.