NHL GMs Will Likely Face First Salary Cap Decrease Since '05-06

Daly Says NHL Salary Cap Could Drop By As Much As $2.5M For '09-10 Season

NHL GMs this year "will likely be facing the first decrease in the salary cap since it was instituted" for the '05-06 season, according to Rich Chere of the Newark STAR-LEDGER. NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly said that the salary cap "could drop by as much as $2.5[M] for the 2009-10 season from its current $56.7[M]." Although Daly "couldn't say, it is not inconceivable that the figure could fall to $50[M] for the 2010-11 season." Daly in an e-mail said, "At this point, we don't really have a good estimate of where the cap will be. If the NHLPA wants a 5[%] inflator, and we agree, the cap should be relatively 'flat.'" He added if there is "no inflator applied, the cap will be down" $2-2.5M. Chere noted that possibility has GMs "very worried about how much they should pay to keep their own players and what would be prudent in signing unrestricted free agents." Devils President, CEO & GM Lou Lamoriello: "It will affect everybody's philosophy and everybody's decisions. Because, if you're signing any long-term contracts of two years or more, you don't know what potentially can happen and how far down the cap will or can go." Maple Leafs President & GM Brian Burke: "The problem with the salary cap is it backdates reality by as much as 12 months. It doesn't reflect current economic conditions. ... So this year's revenues won't reflect the changing conditions and therefore the cap won't reflect them." Chere noted because of the "fears for 2010-11, GMs are likely to be more cautious this summer" (Newark STAR-LEDGER, 5/24).