Minimum salaries set to rise with new CBA

Details of the NHL's new collective bargaining agreement with its players, which still needs to be ratified by said players, are still leaking out. One new detail that has come to light is those players making the least amount of money in the NHL, or the minimum salary, will be making more money in the coming years, although not a lot more, relatively speaking.

Right now, those making the minimum in the NHL earn $700,000 a year. That will remain the same in 2020-21 and then rise to $750,000 in 2021-22. That had already been set in stone. The new CBA, once ratified, will see the floor remain at $750,000 in 2022-23 and then rise to $775,000 the next season and remain that way until the end of the new deal in 2025-26.

In comparison, the current National Basketball Association minimum salary is $893,310, while Major League Baseball's minimum is actually lower than the NHL's at $563,500. For the National Football League, it's considerably lower at $480,000. However, players in the other leagues will see raises in their minimum depending on how long they are in the league, while an NHLer could conceivably play their entire careers and never make any more than the league minimum, regardless of experience. In other words, the minimum does not go up in the NHL based on experience, while it does in other leagues.

One thing to note is, with the NHL's salary cap remaining flat for the next couple of years, a rise in the minimum salary will mean added pressure for those teams already struggling with staying under the maximum total earnings. In those cases, every dollar counts and raises of $50,000 and then another $25,000 for at least one or two players per team will make a difference.

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