Speculation: Ottawa Senators Cap Projections 25/26 and 26/27

[DrEasy]

I would like to see more than 3 options

Those are the realistic ones I found that could be equal or better than Giroux yet attainable.

Here's the list I used: Top 20 2025 NHL Unrestricted Free Agents - The Hockey Writers Editor's Choice Latest News, Analysis & More

 

[Micklebot]

The article you attached was from 2 months ago. IIRC, Bettman was on television since then stating that he had no idea where those numbers were coming from. Something might have happened since then. I have no idea what will happen, and won’t try to guess.

Bettman is the same guy that said the Thrashers weren't on the move, then a week later announced the Thrashers were moving.

What has changed since then is that Escrow payments have been dropped from 6% to zero for the remainder of the season, and players are expected to get everything they paid into Escrow back when they do the final accounting.

The thing we do know for sure though is for any climb in the cap beyond 5%, the NHL and NHLPA will need to come to an agreement as the MOU from 2020 set a max increase of 5% per year. So when Bettman says he has no idea where they got 97 from, it's likely at least partially true in that the NHL and NHLPA haven't yet bargained any increase beyond the 5% max dictated by the current MOU.

My guess is 97 comes from an estimate of the trailing two-year average HRR growth percentage, but that's pure speculation on my part.

 

[GCK]

I'm starting this thread for use as a location to post proposed Cap situations. I'll start with currently signed player for the next two years including the two buried 1 way contracts next year. I'm using conservative Upper Limit numbers of 95M and 100M.

Player	2025/26	2026/27
Stutzle	8,350,000	8,350,000
Tkachuk	8,205,714	8,205,714
Norris	7,950,000	7,950,000
Batherson	4,975,000	4,975,000
Perron	4,000,000	0
Pinto	3,750,000	0
Amadio	2,600,000	2,600,000
Greig	3,250,000	3,250,000
Ostapchuk	825,000	0
Sanderson	8,050,000	8,050,000
Chabot	8,000,000	8,000,000
Zub	4,600,000	4,600,000
Jensen	4,050,000	4,050,000
Ullmark	8,250,000	8,250,000
Korpisalo	1,000,000	1,000,000
White	875,000	875,000
Total	78,730,714	66,105,714
Projected Cap	95,000,000	100,000,000
Projected Space	16,269,286	33,894,286
MacEwen	775,000	0
Sogaard	775,000	0

Updated to reflect the error in Jensen row