How New NHL Salary Cap Impacts Blackhawks Offseason Plans

How New NHL Salary Cap Impacts Blackhawks Offseason Plans

NHL insider Elliotte Friedman reported on Wednesday afternoon that the league has informed teams of the new figures for the 2026-27 salary cap and payroll range. The salary cap ceiling for next season will be $104 million, which is an $8.5 million increase from 2024-25. The salary cap floor will be $76.9 million for 2026-27.

As for the individual player maximum salary, that will be $20.8 million. Minnesota Wild forward Kirill Kaprizov is set to be the highest-paid player in the league next season, with his $17 million per year extension officially kicking in.

According to PuckPedia, the Blackhawks have roughly $63.7 million on their books for 2026-27, but that number could change depending on some offseason decisions. Andre Burakovsky and Andrew Mangiapane are both buy-out candidates this summer, and the two carry $5.5 million and $3.6 million cap hits, respectively. There’s no guarantee that either will get bought out, but it’s certainly in the cards. Doing so would obviously drop the Blackhawks’ team cap hit for next season.

Sacha Boisvert and Dominic Toninato are also listed as part of the NHL roster right now, and both are likely to open next year in the AHL with the Rockford IceHogs. Boisvert has a $996,667 cap hit, while Toninato’s is $850,000.

Assuming at least one of Burakovsky and Mangiapane is bought out, plus neither Boisvert nor Toninato cracks the NHL roster out of training camp, the Blackhawks’ salary cap would be right around $56 million. That would put them $20 million below the salary cap floor, meaning they have plenty of money to spend in the offseason.