For a while now, there has been no increase in the NHL wage cap. The cap was fixed at $81.5 million from 2019 to 22 and increased by just two million dollars in the final two seasons to $83.5 million.
NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman announced early in December that the salary cap would rise by $4.2 million to $87.7 million for the upcoming season. This season, the league brought in over $6.2 billion in revenue.
Over the past few years, NHL players' approaches to free agency have changed. The stagnating cap was causing players to choose short-term contracts rather locking into security. I believe that now that there has been a consistent rise, players will start to seek out long-term contracts once more.