Wilderness Walk: NHL salary cap can increase by $4 million this summer

It’s a Wednesday morning and the Minnesota Wild are not playing tonight, but that doesn’t mean that there isn’t anything in the news relevant to them. Actually, the recent NHL news might be the most relevant to them.

According to reports of what transpired at the recent Board of Governors meeting in New York City, the NHL salary cap could be increasing by a total of $4 million this summer, far exceeding the original estimate of just $1 million. This will only happen if the escrow balance — the escrow balance is money owed from the players to the owners because revenues dropped during the pandemic, almost entirely due to games without fans. It started at $1.1B. — is fully paid off, which commissioner Gary Bettman said that there is a strong probability of doing so. If the players do not pay the escrow off this year, it will be the originally reported $1 million increase. You can read more about the meeting on Sportsnet.

Of course this is brilliant news for every team in the league, but especially the Wild. Still having two more years of cap uncertainty due to the dead cap of the buyouts of Ryan Suter and Zach Parise, the Wild will have more flexibility and since blossoming star Matt Boldy needs a new contract this summer, he can get paid more which probably means more years as well. Overall, good!

That’s Wild

• The Wild haven’t won a game yet this season, and head coach Dean Evason isn’t blaming individual players but anyone and anything. [Hockey Wilderness]
• We have a new weekly podcast this year. Check out the episode of Hockey Hot-Dish here or wherever you listen to your podcasts. [Hockey Wilderness]

Off the trail...

• It’s not Auston Matthews, or Alex Ovechkin, but Edmonton Oilers’ Connor McDavid could be a threat to win the Rocket Richard Trophy this year. [Yahoo Sports]
• ESPN is ranking the top-100 players in the NHL and released their list of No. 100 to 50. [ESPN]