Thirty-three little dollars. That’s what separates the Tampa Bay Lightning from the $82.5 million salary cap imposed by the National Hockey League.
The director general of the Florida formation, Julien Brisebois, revealed this information to Jean-Charles Lajoie on Monday. Let’s say the lemon has been squeezed to the max.
«[Mathieu] Darche wanted us to push the note and go to 0; I told him that if we get to zero, we won’t have a goal for next year, we won’t be able to raise the bar, joked Brisebois in an interview on the show JiC. It just happens that this year, we’re down to $33. We were at $712 last year, $333 the year before. We try every year to maximize the space to use this resource and invest it on the ice.
The hockey man may welcome the eventual salary cap increase, which might climb by $10 million over the next few years (projected $92 million in 2025-2026 according to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman) as a blessing. However, Brisebois puts things in perspective.
“It will do us good, but it will also help the competition, he nuanced. All teams will have the same advantage.
Brisebois touched on a host of other topics, including the form of Nikita Kucherov, who arrived at camp in good spirits. Due to injuries, the Russian hasn’t played a full season since 2018-2019.
“His work ethic is exemplary. He was on the ice all summer, six days a week, sometimes seven. He had good flashes during the preseason games. I expect a big season from him.”
See the full interview given by Julien Brisebois in the video above.