The Detroit Red Wings received some encouraging news on Friday when the NHL and NHLPA jointly announced salary cap projections for the next three seasons.
- 2025-26: $95.5 million
- 2026-27: $104 million
- 2027-28: $113.5 million
This is a significant jump forward for the league. The salary cap has only seen modest growth—or no change—in recent years. Now, with revenue on the rise, we’re entering a new era. And today, we’ll explore what a rising salary cap means for the Red Wings.
Red Wings’ Great Cap Shape
Call it luck. Call it foresight. Either way, the Red Wings were smart to lock up Dylan Larkin, Moritz Seider, and Lucas Raymond to long-term contracts before the salary cap jumped up significantly. Larkin and Seider are signed through 2031, and Raymond through 2032.
The contracts these players signed were steals the moment pen hit paper, and they’ll look better and better as the cap rises. The chart below shows how these deals will age over time using salary cap percentage (cap hit divided by cap upper limit).
| Player | 2024-25 | 2025-26 | 2026-27 | 2027-28 |
| Dylan Larkin | 9.89% | 9.11% | 8.37% | 7.67% |
| Moritz Seider | 9.18% | 8.46% | 7.76% | 7.11% |
| Lucas Raymond | 9.72% | 8.95% | 8.22% | 7.53% |
For reference, those 2027-28 cap percentages are equivalent to roughly $6.2-$6.6 million in 2024-25 dollars. That means prime Raymond and Seider will be taking up as much cap space as Tom Wilson, Anthony Cirelli, and Damon Severson do for their respective teams today.
This is why I was adamant about Seider and Raymond signing long-term deals last summer. Short-term bridge contracts would have set them up to make significantly more upon expiry. In other words, it would have been extremely poor cap management and straight-up malpractice on Detroit’s part to agree to bridge deals with a cap increase—even if the amount was unknown—on the horizon.
Related: Which Red Wings Are Expendable?
Crisis averted. Now, Seider and Raymond (plus Larkin) are locked in with great cap hits for the foreseeable future.
Red Wings’ Cap Flexibility
As it currently stands, the Red Wings have nine forwards, five defensemen, and one goalie signed for the 2025-26 season. If you throw in new deals for Albert Johansson, Jonatan Berggren, and Elmer Soderblom—and add in Sebastian Cossa—Detroit is left with roughly $19.8 million in cap space to address their remaining needs.
That means the Red Wings have flexibility to go big-game hunting this offseason if they so please. Elias Pettersson? Yep, they can definitely afford him. The same goes for Mikko Rantanen and Mitch Marner if they make it to free agency.
Yes, all teams will get an extra $7.5 million in cap space to work with this summer. The point is that the Red Wings will have plenty of cap space at their disposal if they want to use the 2025 offseason as a springboard to contention.
The one caveat here is that Detroit should be conscious of what Simon Edvinsson’s next contract could look like. He’s the only Red Wings player who will be due for a significant pay raise in the next couple years. As one of the team’s most promising young defensemen, Edvinsson is expected to transition into a top-pairing role, solidifying himself as a cornerstone of Detroit’s blue line. With his current entry-level contract set to expire in 2026, his next deal will likely reflect his growing impact, especially if he continues to develop into the elite two-way defenseman the Red Wings envision.
Final Word
An escalating salary cap is great news for a team on the cusp like the Red Wings. Their core players—Larkin, Raymond, and Seider—are locked in. Plus, the much-maligned deals signed by role players like Andrew Copp and J.T. Compher will be much easier to tolerate as they wind down. Overall, the team is well-positioned to make major additions in the coming years that could help catapult them into contenders.
Related: Red Wings Top 25 Prospects: 2024-25 Midseason Update
One thing I’m curious about, though, is how the organization will manage their internal cap. No player has a higher cap hit than Larkin. Will that continue to be the unspoken rule moving into the future? Or will the Red Wings be comfortable throwing higher dollar amounts at other players? My guess is the latter, especially as Larkin approaches his 30s.
Data courtesy of PuckPedia.
