NHL and NHLPA Announce Team Payroll Range for 2014-15

On Friday, June 27, the National Hockey League and the National Hockey League Players’ Association announced the payroll range for the teams for the 2014-15 season. The range is pursuant to the Collective Bargaining Agreement.

For the coming season the CBA provides for a Lower Limit of $51 million, an Adjusted Midpoint of $60 million and an Upper Limit of $69 million. There are some teams that will feel the crunch of the upper limit, despite the fact that it went up from the previous season.

The Boston Bruins, for instance, will be saddled with a cap penalty of close to approximately $4.75 million as a result of bonuses paid to Jarome Iginla for his play this past season. The irony is that it could be this penalty that keeps the Bruins from being able to resign Iginla for the coming season as they will not have enough cap space to keep him and complete their roster for the coming season.

Original projections had the upper limit at closer to $71 million back in December. Calculations that include accounting for the fluctuation of the Canadian dollar and its exchange rate with the US dollar contributed to the lower final agreed on upper limit. And NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman alluded to this during a press conference he held in Boston on May 3, before the Bruins hosted the Montreal Canadiens in the first game of round 2 of the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals.