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
Speculation: Ottawa Senators Cap Projections 25/26 and 26/27
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Here's the list I used: Top 20 2025 NHL Unrestricted Free Agents - The Hockey Writers Editor's Choice Latest News, Analysis & More
Micklebot
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- Apr 27, 2010
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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.
Micklebot
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Wow, 113.5 by 27-28 seems nuts to me. Three consecutive 8.5-9% increases when the MOU set 5% as a cap, and you wonder why there was some speculation of it potentially being as high as 97.
Yeah, seeing why some teams will need an internal cap… probably gonna be quite an advantage for the big markets.
Bjornar Moxnes
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Big Muddy
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Any player agent for a free agent is going to pushing for a nice increase for their client. Not sure how well we'll compete with large market, U.S. teams for free agents in this kind of market.
So can a lot of teams. A rising tide floats all boats and big market U.S. teams will have less trouble ponying up the larger dollars for free agents.
Bjornar Moxnes
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well, there's multiple wingers on the market, and a Dane that's played entirely for Canadian teams his life might be more open to signing with another one, especially with the politics in the states. It doesn't have to be Ehlers specifically, but we do have the room to get a winger for Jimothy.
Yeah it’s going to be a challenge. We’re gonna have to focus heavily on drafting and trading, which a lot of teams that win cups do anyway so it is what it is I guess.
Micklebot
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Also, at 95.5 next year, we're pretty much done before we start, a Giroux extension will eat up any space we have imo,
Yup, especially if we want to leave room for deadline/in-season moves.
It’s probably why they’re exploring trading Norris, which I hope they don’t do. I don’t know if they can get Perron off the books but they should try so we can go find a winger somewhere that better fits our needs.
Big Muddy
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All I was pointing out is that with a higher cap there’s potential, but lots of teams will have that potential as well. There’s the potential and then there’s the ability to capitalize on that potential. I don’t think it got any easier to land a big fish free agent even after the larger cap increase. In fact, it may have (probably) gotten harder.
Loach
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Unless the league has a giant tv/streaming deal in it's back pocket to balance things, Mr. Bettman can kiss his precious Parity goodbye. Max a player can make is 20% of cap. Many teams will be running an internal cap of 95-100 million is my guess. Only a few teams will be able to run max cap. The others won't commit 15-20 mill on one player because they wouldn't be able to build a roster. We're right back to the first lock out.
BonHoonLayneCornell
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That'll be when I check out if those large spreads between spenders and non spenders comes in to play. No interest in watching another pay to win league for the rich teams like Baseball is.
xVolchenkov
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I know a lot of people dislike Dorian around here, but him locking in some top guys (Brady, Stu, Sanderson, etc) with the cap going up to this extreme should really help Ottawa
Sens of Anarchy
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